Wall Street is expected to fall on Friday, and European stock markets are also retreating at mid-session, with technology and banks under pressure.

The dollar climbs and investors digest data on private-sector activity in the eurozone ahead of the publication of their US equivalents this Friday.

New York index futures point to a Wall Street opening down 0.06% for the Dow Jones, 0.08% for the Standard & Poor's-500 and 0.04% for the Nasdaq.

In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.49% to 7,633.40 points around 11:01 GMT. In Frankfurt, the Dax was down 0.50% and in London, the FTSE 100 gave up 0.58%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index fell by 0.69%, the FTSEurofirst 300 by 0.63% and the Stoxx 600 by 0.64%.

Stock markets opted for a cautious approach to close the week, with banks and the technology sector particularly hard hit, as the session was full of macroeconomic indicators for investors to digest, and the dollar's appreciation weighed on equities.

The STOXX 600, Europe's benchmark index, is nonetheless poised for modest weekly gains, following a fall of over 2% last week, when markets were rocked by French President Emmanuel Macron's announcement of early parliamentary elections.

On the macroeconomic front, the morning was busy with the publication of indicators on private sector activity in the eurozone and Great Britain.

The S&P Global/HCOB purchasing managers' surveys showed that private sector activity slowed in June in Germany, and that weak demand weighed on economic activity in France. In the Eurozone, growth in business activity also slowed sharply this month due to the first drop in demand since February.

The publication of these data, which testify to the eurozone's economic slowdown and could argue in favor of a further cut in key rates by the European Central Bank (ECB), is pushing down government bond yields across the continent.

In the United States, markets are awaiting the publication of S&P Global PMI indices for the private sector at 13:45 GMT and data on housing resales at 14:00 GMT for further clues on the health of the world's largest economy.

STOCKS TO WATCH ON WALL STREET

Nvidia is down 1.5% in pre-market trading after the previous session's losses brought its market valuation below that of Microsoft.

VALUES IN EUROPE

On the STOXX 600, the banking sector (-1.53%) continues to suffer from political uncertainty in France. French banks Société Générale, BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole were all down on Friday.

The technology sector is down 1.2% after its recent gains.

The strength of the greenback also weighed on the basic resources sector (-0.6%) and the energy sector (-0.5%).

In Paris, the highly volatile Atos plunged 13%. The group declared on Thursday evening that the objective of reaching a definitive financial restructuring agreement with the Onepoint consortium and financial creditors by July 2024 remained unchanged.

In Frankfurt, Varta fell by 2%, the German battery manufacturer having announced on Thursday evening a downward revision of its sales forecast for this year.

Elsewhere in Europe, Danish brewer Carlsberg fell by 6.7% after the British group Britvic (+5.6%) rejected its takeover offer.

RATES

Eurozone government bond yields retreated on Friday after the publication of PMI surveys on private-sector activity in the eurozone, showing greater-than-expected weakness, which could argue in favor of a further cut in key rates by the European Central Bank (ECB).

The surveys suggest "that a solid recovery in the eurozone economy is not a foregone conclusion", said Franziska Palmas, analyst at Capital Economics.

The yield on the ten-year German Bund, the eurozone benchmark, lost 6.8 basis points to 2.3560%, while its two-year equivalent fell by 7.1 basis points to 2.7510%.

In France, the yield on the ten-year OAT, recently under pressure due to political turbulence, dropped 3.5 basis points to 3.1189%.

In the United States, the yield on ten-year Treasuries gave up 2.6 basis points to 4.2283%.

CURRENCIES

On the foreign exchange market, the dollar gained 0.22% against a basket of benchmark currencies, as the Federal Reserve's approach to interest rate cuts contrasted with more optimistic cuts or outlooks in other countries, such as Switzerland and the UK.

The euro lost 0.19% to 1.0680.

OIL

Oil prices were little changed on Friday, but should record a second week in the green amid signs of improving demand and falling crude inventories in the USA.

Brent crude fell by 0.04% to $85.68 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) lost 0.01% to $81.28.

MAIN ECONOMIC INDICATORS ON FRIDAY'S AGENDA:

COUNTRY GMT INDICATOR PERIOD PREVIOUS CONSENSUS USA 1:45 PM S&P Global PMI Index June 51.0 51.3

manufacturing(1st estimate) USA 13h45 PMI Services Index (1st June 53.7 52.0

estimate) USA 13h45 S&P Global PMI Index June - 54.5

composite(1st estimate) USA 2:00 PM Home sales May 4.10 mlns 4.14 mlns

(Some data may lag slightly)

(Written by Diana Mandiá)