European stock markets started the week on a mixed note.
While it achieved a record closing of 525.05 points on Friday, the Stoxx Europe 600 indicator index is trading at 524.1 points, down 0.17 percent after the opening today, and the DAX 40 index in Germany is trading at 18,881 points, 0.13 percent below the previous close.
The FTSE 100 index in the UK fell by 0.7 percent to 8,370 points, the CAC 40 index in France fell by 0.21 percent to 7,615 points, the MIB 30 index in Italy rose by 0.9 percent to 34,340 points and the IBEX 35 index in Spain rose by 0.09 percent to 11,380 points.
The euro/dollar parity is currently trading at 1.1060, up 0.1 percent from its previous close.
While a mixed trend was prominent in European stock markets on Friday, all eyes turned to the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data for the manufacturing industry to be announced in the region today.
According to data released on Friday, monthly inflation in the Eurozone stood at 0.2 percent, while annual inflation fell to a three-year low of 2.2 percent.
The unemployment rate in the Eurozone, which was 6.5 percent in June, was measured at 6.4 percent in July.
Analysts noted that it is almost certain that the European Central Bank (ECB) will make two more interest rate cuts this year, and that the decrease in inflationary pressures in the region continues to strengthen the possibility of a third interest rate cut.
On the other hand, while ECB officials continue to give verbal guidance, ECB Executive Board Member Isabel Schnabel said in her speech on Friday, “The path to price stability is based on a number of critical assumptions, policy must proceed gradually and carefully.”
ECB member and French Central Bank President Francois Villeroy de Galhau said it would be wise for the ECB to lower interest rates in September, adding that caution should be exercised against the risk of insufficient growth.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party came first in the Thuringia state parliament elections over the weekend, receiving 30.8 percent of the vote, while the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party led the Saxony state parliament elections with 31.5 percent of the vote.
Thus, according to exit polls in the German state of Thuringia, the far-right came first in a state parliament election for the first time since World War II.
