10 things you need to know before European markets open
Eurozone confidence figures are coming. At 10 a.m. UK time (5 a.m. ET) the European Commission's economic sentiment indicator is released. Anything over 100 indicates net optimism, and analysts expect August's reading to have dipped from 104 to 103.9.
Chinese stocks are up again. Chinese stocks have opened Friday's session sharply higher. As of 6:30 a.m. UK time (1:30 a.m. ET) the Shanghai Composite Index is up 1.78%.
Other Asian markets are up too. Hong Kong's Hang Seng is higher by 0.57%, while Japan's Nikkei is flying, up 2.80%.
Moody's cut its global growth forecasts for next year. In what is now a well-worn path, ratings agency Moody's has become the latest organization to downgrade its expectations for global GDP next year, slicing their forecast for G20 economic growth for 2016 to 2.8% from 3.1% seen previously.
Japanese inflation and household spending slumped in July. Japanese inflation fell back to zero in July while household spending dropped again, official data showed Friday, with the disappointing data sure to stoke speculation that the central bank would unleash more stimulus.
The Jackson Hole monetary policy symposium opens today. The annual meeting is attended by some of the world's top central bankers. In the new few days, Mark Carney, Raghuram Rajan, Stanley Fischer, Vitor Constancio and many others are speaking.
Support for Turkey's governing party is slipping. Turkey's ruling AK Party is not seen winning enough votes to form a single-party government in a Nov. 1 snap election with 38.9% support, down from 40.7% in the June election, the latest survey from pollster Gezici indicated.
Boeing won a major US defence contract. Boeing has won a contract worth $1.49 billion (£365.18 million) to build 13 more P-8A maritime surveillance aircraft, and buy titanium and other materials needed for work on 20 further planes in coming years, the Pentagon announced on Thursday.
AIG is seeking billions in a life insurance lawsuit. An American International Group (AIG) unit on Thursday asked a federal judge to order a Pennsylvania firm to pay it $1.76 billion (£1.14 billion) in damages for allegedly overcharging for life insurance policies acquired from elderly individuals.
One billion people used Facebook on Monday for the first time ever. For the first time, a billion people used Facebook in a single day on Monday. to connect with their friends and family.