Peter Nurse 

Investing.com: European stock markets will open slightly lower on Friday as investors process central bank policies ahead of U.S. employment data.

2.05 am ET (005 GMT): The German contract traded 0.1% lower while France’s contract was flat. In the United Kingdom, the contract fell 0.3%

The surprised investors on Thursday by keeping its interest rate steady, the day after the U.S. indicated that it would be “patient” on interest rate hikes while beginning asset tapering.

Christine Lagarde of European Central Bank resisted market calls for a rate rise, saying it was highly unlikely that such an event would happen by 2022.

While the central banks are cautiously moving towards normalization, they want to give their economies the best chance of recovering from the pandemic.

This caution is warranted in Europe as coronavirus infection levels are at an all-time high in several countries.

Hans Kluge from the European Region of the World Health Organisation stated that the current rate of transmission within 53 European Region countries is “of grave concern” and added that the region could see 500,000 Covid deaths by February.

In economic news, fell 1.1% in September, disappointing hopes for a rebound from the previous month’s revised 3.5% drop. The Eurozone will also release September numbers, however, the U.S. will come out later in session. Variables such as earnings growth, labor force participation, and headline jobs creation will be just as significant. 

Economists forecast that October’s payroll increases will be 450,000, an improvement on the previous month’s 194,000 increase. This is a significant improvement over the eight-month low of 194,000.

Crude oil prices rose Friday as OPEC+ opted to keep their current stance of steadily increasing supply during a Thursday meeting, rejecting demands for a greater increase in output.

According to OPEC+ (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and Russia’s allies, 400,000 barrels per day were added monthly. This was in spite of pressure from the U.S. president Joe Biden.

At 2:05 AM ET futures had traded 1.1% higher to $79.64/barrel, and the contract increased 0.6% at $81.05.

Brent’s weekly decline is still expected to be close to 4%, which would mark the second consecutive week of drops. This week, the U.S. will see oil prices drop by nearly 5%.

Also, the price of gold rose 0.3% at $1,798.65/oz while it traded 0.1% lower at 1.1560