Stock markets were mixed on Friday as investors digested new inflation data from the United States and the eurozone that could set the tone for interest rate moves by central banks.
Wall Street's three major indexes closed mostly higher after data showed the U.S. Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric remained unchanged in April.
The Dow and S&P 500 closed in the green, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day flat.
The personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index rose at an annual rate of 2.7 percent in April, the same as the previous month and in line with analysts' forecasts.
"The key conclusion of the report is that year-over-year PCE inflation rates did not worsen," he said. Informative information.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.
"However, they have not improved either, so it seems unlikely that the Federal Reserve will find any new confidence in this report that inflation is moving sustainably toward its two percent," he added.
Angelo Kourkafas of Edward Jones said: "We saw very gradual progress on disinflation, it was marginal. But I think the important thing is that the trend is downward."
Bets on the number of Fed rate cuts this year have been reduced by a series of outsized US data and warnings from decision makers that they want to see solid evidence that prices are under control. before moving.
Federal Reserve officials "will need to see a sustainable trend toward lower inflation to feel confident enough to lower rates without seeing a pullback in inflation," said Bret Kenwell, U.S. investment analyst at eToro.
"We're not there yet, but the May inflation reports were a constructive first step," he said.
Two- and five-year U.S. Treasury yields, a gauge of interest rates, sank on expectations that the Federal Reserve could reduce borrowing costs later this year.
In Europe, eurozone consumer inflation rose faster than expected to 2.6 percent in May after 2.4 percent in April, official data showed.
However, analysts expect the European Central Bank to cut rates next week.
The Paris Stock Exchange closed higher but the Frankfurt Stock Exchange ended flat.
London's FTSE 100 index also rose while Asia's main stock markets closed mixed ahead of the release of US data.
Elsewhere, oil prices fell as China's factory activity contracted in May for the first time in three months, denting fragile optimism about the recovery of the top oil-consuming economy.
This came ahead of a weekend meeting of the OPEC+ cartel that is likely to maintain its level of production cuts amid a fragile global economy.
Analysts told AFP they expected the status quo to be maintained at Sunday's online meeting, even if further cuts could boost crude prices and the incomes of group members including Saudi Arabia and Russia. .
- Key figures around 2020 GMT -
New York - Dow: up 1.5 percent to 38,686.32 points (close)
New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.8 percent to 5,277.51 (close)
New York - Nasdaq: FLAT at 16,735.02 (close)
London - FTSE 100: up 0.5 percent to 8,275.38 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.2 to 7,992.87 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: FLAT at 18,497.94 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: FLAT at 4,983.67 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: up 1.1 percent to 38,487.90 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.8 percent to 18,079.61 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent to 3,086.81 (close)
Euro/dollar: RISE to $1.0852 from Thursday's $1.0834
Pound/dollar: UP to $1.2745 from $1.2733
Dollar/yen: UP to 157.30 from 156.82 yen
Euro/pound: UP to 85.12 from 85.07 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.2 percent to $76.99 per barrel
North Sea Brent crude oil: DOWNS 0.3 percent to $81.62 per barrel
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