European stock markets are expected to open sharply lower after Jerome Powell's restrictive remarks. The Eurostoxx 50 opened at  3,928.03 points (+0.80%), the CAC 40 at 6,715.10 points (+1.36%), the DAX 40 at 14,502.41 points (+0.98%), the FTSE 100 at 7,627.95 points (-0.02%), the SMI at 12,301.33 points (-0.07%), the AEX at 729.05 points (+0.47%), the BEL 20 at 4,266.01 points (+0.20%), the IBEX 35 at 8,814.60 points (+0.51%), the DJIA at 34,792.76 points (-1.05%), the Nasdaq at 13,174.65 points (-2.07%), the S&P 500 at 4,393.66 points (-1.48%) and the Nikkei 225 at 27,082.11 points (-1.71%).

As regarding exchange rates, the change from the close in New York, EUR/USD at 1.0844 (+0.08%), EUR/JPY at 139.05 (-0.02%) and USD/JPY at 128.23 (-0.13%).

Investors will be watching friday for the first estimates of manufacturing and services PMIs in France for April. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal expect growth in both sectors to slow, with a manufacturing activity index at 53 after 54.8 in March and a services index at 56.5 from 57.4.

European equity markets are expected to open sharply lower on Friday, in the wake of Wall Street's sharp pullback the day before, after the Chairman of the Federal Reserve (Fed) indicated that a 50 basis point increase in interest rates was likely in May and that a second increase of the same magnitude may be necessary later to bring down inflation. At 7:35 a.m., the CAC 40 futures contract lost 110 points, or 1.6%, according to data from broker IG Markets. The CONTRACT on the DAX 40 gave up 196 points, or 1.4%, and the FTSE 100 contract gave up 90 points, or 1.2%.

Wall Street ended lower on Thursday, undermined by rising bond yields. The Dow Jones index closed down 1.1% to 34,792.76 points, and the S&P 500 fell 1.5% to 4,393.67 points. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.1% to 13,174.65 points, after falling 1.2% the day before.

US Treasury yields continue to rise on Friday after Jerome Powell's remarks. At 7:35 a.m., the yield on the ten-year Treasury bill, the market benchmark, stood at 2.943% against 2.845% on Thursday night. The yield on the ten-year bond reached its highest level since December 2018 on Thursday, at 2.978%.

The euro is recovering against the dollar on Friday morning after losing ground overnight in reaction to comments by Jerome Powell, who sent a clearly restrictive message.

Oil prices are falling on Friday, with Covid-19 lockdown measures in China and the resulting reduction in mobility signaling that demand for fuel, and therefore oil, will normalize, ANZ reports. Prices on Thursday made their sixth rise in seven sessions, driven by the declared desire of several European countries to do without Russian oil. At 7:25 a.m., the June contract for North Sea Brent lost $1.12 to $107.21 a barrel, while the same maturity contract for light sweet crude (WTI) listed on the Nymex fell $1.17 to $102.62 a barrel.