The German market is in negative territory on Friday, as investors remained cautious ahead of the all-important monthly jobs report from the U.S. Labor Department. Sentiment was further impacted by Bundesbank's lowering of Germany's growth forecasts.
Germany's central bank lowered the economy's growth projections for this year as well as the next and said "structural problems" in Eurozone remained a major impediment to rapid improvement.
Bundesbank said it expects German gross domestic product to grow 0.3 percent this year, weaker than 0.4 percent forecast in December. The economy is seen growing 1.5 percent in 2014, down from an initially predicted 1.9 percent expansion.
Meanwhile, German exports growth quickened unexpectedly in April, in a sign that the economy is likely to sustain its growth momentum in the second quarter, withstanding recession in the wider euro area.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is falling 0.26 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is losing 0.17 percent.
The DAX index is currently losing 0.5 percent.
Lanxess is falling 2.5 percent. HeidelbergCement is losing 2.3 percent.
Infineon Technologies and Fresenius are dropping 1.8 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.
Hochtief is losing more than 3 percent after Berenberg cut the stock to ''Hold'' from ''Buy.''
JPMorgan cut alstria office to ''Underweight'' from ''Neutral.'' The real estate investment trust is declining 3.1 percent.
PATRIZIA Immobilien is retreating 4.1 percent. The stock was downgraded at JPMorgan.
Insurers MunichRe and Allianz are adding 1.8 percent and 1.2 percent, in that order.
Bayer is up 0.5 percent. Exane BNP raised the stock to ''Outperform'' from ''Neutral.''
Deutsche Telekom is gaining 0.9 percent. Jefferies raised its rating on the stock.
Gagfah is adding 2.4 percent, following a broker upgrade.
Elsewhere in Europe, the French CAC 40, the UK's FTSE 100 and Switzerland's SMI are trading lower.
Across Asia/Pacific, markets were jittery ahead of the jobs data. Australia's All Ordinaries fell 0.9 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.4 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 1.2 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 0.2 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, stocks snapped a two-day losing streak. The Dow rose half a percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.7 percent and the S&P 500 added 0.9 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for July delivery is adding $0.29 to $95.05 per barrel while August gold is losing $6.4 to $1409.4 a troy ounce.
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Market Analysis
May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.