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EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: SHAKY SENTIMENT

European stock index futures are soft on Friday, with a sharp selloff in Asia tech and U.S. megacaps spreading into Europe.

A few stories are feeding the weakness in global equities. Firstly, Apple AAPL.O on Thursday said it was raising the prices of some of its products (although not the iPhone) due to surging demand for memory and storage. Apple shares slumped over 6% on Thursday.

"The news played into broader concerns that AI data centres were generating inflationary pressures," wrote Deutsche Bank global head of macro research Jim Reid in an emailed note.

The price hikes from Apple arrived on the same day that the Commerce Department reported that U.S. inflation had risen above 4% for the first time in three years in May, potentially drawing the Fed closer to raising interest rates this year.

Sentiment in the tech sector is also being shaken by reports that OpenAI is considering delaying its public share listing until next year.

Asia's tech-heavy indexes retreated. South Korea's Kospi .KS11 fell almost 6%. Japan's Nikkei 225 .N225 and Taiwan's benchmark .TWII were both down around 4%.

A cargo ship also reported a suspected attack as it attempted to pass through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, rekindling some concerns about the resumption of oil flows from the Gulf. However, oil prices have taken the setback in their stride and are trading near their lowest since early March.

Into Europe, Euro STOXX 50 futures STXEc1 are down 0.5% in early trade. Futures on the DAX FDXc1, CAC FCEc1 and FTSE FFIc1 are down 0.3% to 0.7%.

Eyes will be on German retailer Zalando ZALG.DE at the open after Germany's financial regulator said it was opening a probe into the company's financial statements.

(Samuel Indyk)

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