European equities are expected to open lower Friday after Greece's talks with Germany – the euro zone's largest economy – over the future of its bailout program met with mixed success.
On Thursday, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis met his German counterpart Wolfgang Scheuble in Berlin after a week of travelling European capitals in an effort to drum up support for Greece's new proposals over its debt and bailout program.
The talks in Berlin had mixed success, however, with Scheuble saying that the ministers had "agreed to disagree" although both parties were willing to listen to each other and cooperate, the ministers told a press conference following discussions.
The Greek government is under pressure to find a solution to its funding situation as its current bailout ends at the end of February and there is still a tranche of bailout funds it has not received; lenders are not ready to release the funds until Greece makes a commitment to continue with the conditions of its bailout, such as austerity measures.
On Wednesday, the ECB took a hard line on Greek debt, revoking a waiver that allowed banks to use Greek government debt as collateral for loans, saying it was no longer able to assume there would be a successful conclusion to the Greek government's bailout program review.
Meanwhile, investors will also watch U.S. nonfarm payrolls data Friday. Friday's non-farm payrolls (NFP) report is expected to show the creation of 230,000 nonfarm payrolls in January, with an unemployment rate holding steady at 5.6 percent and wage growth of 0.3 percent.
Meanwhile in Asia, equities were mixed on Friday ahead of the U.S. jobs report while apprehension about Greece's bailout program also weighed on sentiment. Higher oil prices were a bright spot for Asian traders however, as Brent and U.S. crude traded above $50 a barrel Friday after rallying 5 percent overnight.
On the earnings and data front, earnings are due from Alcatel Lucent and Statoil and German and Spanish industrial production figures are also due.
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