A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from

Ankur Banerjee

A possible de-escalation of trade tensions between Beijing

and Washington provided a fillip for markets on Friday, boosting

risk sentiment and lifting stocks globally just as earnings from

Apple ( AAPL ) delivered a reminder of the trade war's true cost.

China's Commerce Ministry said that Beijing was "evaluating"

an offer from Washington to hold talks over U.S. President

Donald Trump's 145% tariffs and that Beijing's door was open for

discussions. At the same time, however, China said Washington

needed to show "sincerity" in negotiations and should be

prepared to cancel its unilateral tariffs.

The prospect of trade talks helped to allay investor worries

over the tariffs, which have roiled global markets and sparked

fears of an economic downturn. Data for the world's two biggest

economies has started to show signs of weakness.

S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures surged, while

European bourses were set for a strong open ahead of a flurry of

corporate earnings, headlined by oil major Shell and

German chemicals group BASF.

The earnings season so far has highlighted the cost of

erratic U.S. trade policy and its back-and-forth tariffs, which

prompted many companies across the globe to lower their profit

forecasts or withdraw them altogether.

Apple ( AAPL ) on Thursday cut its share buyback programme

by $10 billion and warned that tariffs could add about $900

million in costs this quarter, dimming some of the optimism that

followed strong results from Microsoft and Meta Platform.

Apple ( AAPL ) CEO Tim Cook also outlined how the iPhone maker has

started to stockpile products so that the majority of its

devices sold in the U.S. this quarter will not come from China.

And while markets seem to be taking comfort from Friday's

comments out of Beijing, the reality is that there still has not

been a resolution in any of the trade talks that the U.S. has

held so far with its allies.

That was particularly evident when Japan's finance minister

said on Friday the country could use its $1 trillion-plus

holdings of U.S. Treasuries as a card in trade talks with

Washington, raising explicitly for the first time its leverage

as a massive creditor of the United States.

Key developments that could influence markets on Friday:

Economic events: April flash inflation data for euro zone,

April manufacturing PMI data for France and Germany

Earnings: ING, BASF, NatWest, Shell

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