European Stock Futures Edge Higher; Renault in Spotlight By Investing.com – Investing.com

European Stock Futures Edge Higher; Renault in Spotlight By Investing.com – Investing.com

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse 

Investing.com - European stock markets are expected to open marginally higher Friday, with Renault (PA:) in the spotlight, but concerns surrounding China, one of the world’s main growth drivers, remain.

At 2:05 AM ET (0605 GMT), the contract in Germany traded 0.1% higher, in France climbed 0.5% and the contract in the U.K. rose 0.1%.

French car giant Renault will be in focus Friday, helping the outperform, after it announced late Thursday that it would cut up to 2,000 engineering and support jobs in France as it shifts into electric cars and hires in different positions.

Staying with corporate news, advertising agency S4 Capital reports half-year earnings while Primark owner Associated British Foods (OTC:) issues a trading update.

Elsewhere, U.K. surprisingly fell 0.9% on the month in August, a far weaker result than the gain of 0.5% expected, with consumers spending less at food stores and more on hospitality, services and motor fuel as the economy reopened.

The August for the Eurozone is due later in the session, with the number expected to rise to 3.0% on an annual basis, a sharp rise from July’s 2.2%,