Ahead of Jackson Hole, trade is muted as European stocks increase.

 Investor caution ahead of additional monetary policy clues from the Jackson Hole Symposium later in the session was evident in the tone-deaf trading on Friday on European stock markets.

The CAC 40 in France jumped 0.3%, the FTSE 100 in the United Kingdom increased 0.3%, and the DAX index in Germany traded 0.1% higher at 4:00 ET (08:00 GMT).

Jackson Hole-related anxiety is present

Fears of additional hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve, with Chair Jerome Powell scheduled to appear at the Jackson Hole Symposium later on Friday, caused the main U.S. indices to close with significant losses on Thursday despite good earnings from chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA)

The Fed must decide whether to increase interest rates once again or maintain their current level after doing so in July when they meet. The next policy meeting is in September, and despite recent lowering in inflation readings, the Fed's 2% annual target for inflation still hasn't been reached.

The weekly numbers on unemployment insurance released on Thursday also served as a reminder that the U.S. job market is still tight, giving the Fed little reprieve.

as recent economic statistics indicated that Europe's economic hardship was getting worse.

German GDP stalled in the second quarter, a 0.2% annual decline, according to figures released on Friday. The eurozone's largest economy was also suffering from a sharp decline in industrial output, which had a negative impact on the economy as a whole.

When the European Central Bank meets again in September, JPMorgan now anticipates that it will stop its tightening cycle, with the final 25 basis point increase occurring in October rather than September as it had previously forecast.

the end of the earnings season

Friday's European earnings calendar is basically vacant.

Despite this, Ericsson's (BS:ERICAs) stock increased 0.2% after the Swedish manufacturer of telecom equipment forecast this year's revenue from intellectual property rights licensing of roughly $1 billion as a result of its extended patent cross-licensing arrangement with Huawei of China.

After the financial derivatives dealer's full-year outlook missed expectations and as sluggish trading conditions persisted through August, the stock of CMC Markets (LON:CMCX) plummeted by about 14%.

Crude is expected to drop this week. Although oil prices gained slightly on Friday, they continued to trend higher for a second straight week due to worries about slowing Chinese demand, rising U.S. supply, and a stronger dollar.

The dollar increased earlier on Friday in anticipation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's address at the Jackson Hole symposium, reaching its highest level since early June. The dollar's strength affects the oil market by making crude more expensive for foreign customers.

U.S. oil futures were trading 0.8% higher at $79.65 a barrel by 4:00 ET, while the Brent price was up 0.7% at $83.97.

The benchmarks are expected to tumble for a second straight week, this time by 1% to 2%.

In addition, gold futures decreased 0.3% to $1,942.25/oz, and the EUR/USD traded 0.3% lower at 1.0772.