Europe's main stock markets were down on Friday morning, cautious in the face of a strong dollar and awaiting indicators on private-sector activity in the eurozone and Great Britain.

In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.10% to 7,663.73 points around 07:20 GMT. In London, the FTSE 100 was down 0.07%, while in Frankfurt, the Dax gave up 0.16%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index lost 0.28%, the FTSEurofirst 300 0.27% and the Stoxx 600 0.15%.

Wall Street futures forecast a 0.05% drop for the Dow Jones and 0.04% for the Standard & Poor's 500, but a 0.04% rise for the Nasdaq.

after a mixed session marked by a decline in technology stocks, including Nvidia on profit-taking.

Investors are cautious, as the day is rich in macroeconomic indicators, notably the PMIs in Europe and the United States. The first PMI figures for France show that the services sector contracted more than expected in June, penalized by weak demand as the eurozone's second-largest economy prepares for early parliamentary elections.

In Great Britain, while awaiting publication of the PMI index, retail sales showed a stronger-than-expected month-on-month rebound in May, a sign of some resilience in the economy and consumption, while the Bank of England (BoE) on Thursday paved the way for a cut in the cost of credit in August.

The weakness of sterling and the euro

against the backdrop of the dollar's appreciation, which is heading for a third weekly gain, are weighing on assets. Observers are pointing to a decorrelation between the monetary policies of central banks in Europe, which have begun their monetary easing cycle or are about to do so, and the still restrictive rhetoric adopted by members of the Fed. The president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, Neel Kashkari, estimated on Thursday that it would take a year or two to bring inflation back to 2% in the United States.

On the stock market, the dollar's strength weighed on the basic resources (-0.17%) and energy (-0.12%) segments.

(-0,12%).

The banking sector (-0.49%) continues to suffer from political uncertainty in France.

On the value side, Atos plunged 14.19% as the group declared on Thursday evening that the objective of reaching a definitive financial restructuring agreement with the Onepoint consortium and financial creditors by July 2024 remained unchanged.

Covivio (+0.21%) is in the green, the French property management company having announced on Friday the signing of a memorandum of understanding with AccorInvest, the real estate arm of the Accor group (+0.53%), for the exchange of real estate assets.

Varta fell by 7.44%, the German battery manufacturer having announced on Thursday evening a downward revision of its sales forecast for this year. (Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Blandine Hénault)