European markets set to fall, following global market dip on bond yield jitters

• The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note briefly surpassed 1.6% on Thursday, its highest in over a year, fueled by expectations for higher economic growth and inflation.
• Corporate earnings reports in Europe Friday come from British Airways parent IAG, LafargeHolcim, BASF, Deutsche Telekom, Suez and Engie.

LONDON — European stocks are set to drop at Friday's open, as global markets are roiled by a sudden spike in bond yields, which sent investors fleeing highly valued segments of the market.

Britain's FTSE 100 is seen around 74 points lower at 6,578, Germany's DAX is set to slide around 170 points to 13,709 and France's CAC 40 is expected to drop around 74 points to 5,710, according to IG data.

Shares in Asia-Pacific sold off sharply during Friday's trade, led by a 3.99% decline for Japan's Nikkei 225 while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 2.99%.

U.S. stock futures are pointing to further losses on Friday after the pop in interest rates pushed the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite to its worst trading session since October.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note briefly surpassed 1.6% on Thursday, its highest in over a year, fueled by expectations for higher economic growth and inflation on the back of Covid vaccine rollouts, the prospect of significant fiscal stimulus from Washington and pent-up consumer demand. The 10-year rate mellowed on Friday morning, last seen at 1.4719%.

"Until recently, market participants have been able to digest the upward drift in long-term rates, but it appears that the next leg up in interest rates is a bigger bite to chew," said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist at Allianz Investment Management.

"Looking at where real yields were at, they were simply too low when considering growth expectations, and it's likely that long-term real yields will continue to drift higher as economic data improves."

In Europe, corporate earnings reports come from British Airways parent IAG, LafargeHolcim, BASF, Deutsche Telekom, Suez and Engie.

On the data front, French fourth-quarter and full-year GDP growth figures will be published Friday morning, along with February's preliminary CPI inflation estimates.

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