Wall Street stocks opened higher, but proved unable to hold onto gains amid talk of persistently elevated interest rates.
"Traders are conditioned to try to buy dips, and I think that's what they tried to do this morning," said Sosnick. "But there was really no follow through." The Bank of England on Thursday also decided against hiking its interest rate for a 15th time in a row, leaving it at 5.25 percent, the highest level since 2008.London's stock market rose Friday but the British pound dipped against the dollar.
Major eurozone indices closed lower, however, as a key survey showed eurozone economic activity shrank further in September but at a slower rate.It comes as BoJ officials face increasing pressure to turn more hawkish as the yen weakens and after fresh data showed inflation remains stubbornly high.