America News Agency

According to the analysts, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was last on track to add around 4 points to 8,287, Germany’s DAX was set to rise by 47 points to 19,269, France’s CAC was last set to add around 26 points to 7,759, and Italy’s FTSE MIB was due to gain 87 points to 34,482.

European stocks climbed Thursday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 closing 1.25 percent higher after gains in Asia-Pacific markets.

Those widely continued their climb on Friday, still buoyed by China’s announcement of stimulus measures earlier in the week. On Friday, the People’s Bank of China said it was cutting its 7-day reverse repo rate to 1.5 percent, the second reduction in around three months, and slashed the reserve requirement ratio of financial institutions by 0.5 percentage points.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., attention turned to Friday's release of August’s personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE), the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. Economists expect headline PCE to rise 2.3 percent on an annual basis and 0.1 percent from the previous month.

U.S. stock futures were last to change a little before the key data release. In Europe, preliminary September inflation data from France are expected, and the latest German unemployment data is also due.