European markets head for higher open as investors weigh global economic outlook

LONDON — European markets headed for a higher open on Friday as investors weighed the outlook for the economy and looked to fresh data.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was last on track to add around 4 points to 8,287, Germany’s DAX was set to rise by 47 points to 19,269, France’s CAC was last set to add around 26 points to 7,759, and Italy’s FTSE MIB was due to gain 87 points to 34,482.

European stocks had climbed Thursday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 closing 1.25% higher after being boosted by gains in Asia-Pacific markets.

Those widely continued their climb on Friday, still buoyed by China’s announcement of stimulus measures earlier in the week. On Friday, the People’s Bank of China said it was cutting its 7-day reverse repo rate to 1.5%, the second reduction in around three months, and slashed the reserve requirement ratio of financial institutions by 0.5 percentage points.

Meanwhile in the U.S., attention turned to the release of August’s personal consumption expenditures price index which is slated for Friday. The PCE is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. Economists are expecting headline PCE to have risen 2.3% on an annual basis and 0.1% from the previous month.

U.S. stock futures were last little changed ahead of the key data release.

Back in Europe, preliminary inflation data for September is expected out of France, and the latest German unemployment data is also due.