European Stock Futures Lower; French 1Q GDP Impresses By Investing.com – Investing.com

European Stock Futures Lower; French 1Q GDP Impresses By Investing.com – Investing.com

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse 

Investing.com - European stock markets are seen opening slightly lower Friday, ending the week on a cautious note following disappointing Chinese growth data and ahead of key European numbers and the continuing first-quarter earnings season. 

At 3:05 AM ET (0705 GMT), the contract in Germany traded 0.1% lower, in France were flat and the contract in the U.K. fell 0.2%. 

Global stock markets have been pushed to record levels of late by signs of a broad economic recovery, helped by vast amounts of fiscal stimulus and ultra easy monetary policies.

However, earlier Friday, China’s official fell to 51.1 in April from 51.9 in March, missing forecasts in April as supply bottlenecks and rising costs weighed on production.

That said, losses are likely to be limited after the broad-based closed at a record high on Wall Street Thursday, helped by strong earnings from some tech giants as well as U.S. first-quarter rising 6.4%, better than expectations for a 6.1% rise.

Back in Europe, the French also grew more than expected in the first quarter, climbing 0.4% from the fourth quarter, as consumer spending and business investment held up