Caution lingers around global stocks

Adyen shares fell more than 5% in early trade, compounding Thursday’s massive losses after the Dutch payments company missed first-half earnings expectations.

At the top of the Stoxx 600, Swedish video game and media holding company Embracer Group rose more than 4%.

– Elliot Smith

U.K. retail sales fell 1.2% month-on-month in July and 3.2% annually, primarily due to persistent poor weather, the Office for National Statistics said Friday.

The figure was well below a consensus forecast for a 0.5% decline among economists polled by Reuters, and down from a 0.6% monthly expansion in June.

“Rather than spending at home, consumers were instead tempted to spend their increasingly squeezed disposable income on booking last-minute holidays, leaving less money for retail spending,” noted Carly Donovan, associate partner at McKinsey & Company.

“And with air travel costs up 29.8% year on year, holiday bookings ate into a larger portion of disposable income than usual.”

– Elliot Smith

Britain’s FTSE 100 is set to open around 37 points lower at 7,273, Germany’s DAX is seen around 42 points lower at 15,635 and France’s CAC 40 is expected to shed around 19 points to 7,173, according to IG data.

China’s property giant Evergrande group filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court late Thursday.

The real estate developer referenced restructuring proceedings in Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands, in a filing to the Manhattan court.

In July, Evergrande posted a combined loss of $81 billion over the past two years, after struggling to complete projects and pay back its suppliers and lenders.

The news comes amid contagion fears that problems in China’s struggling real estate sector could spill over to other parts of the economy, even as growth stalls.

Read the full story here.

— Sumathi Bala

Japan’s core inflation for July fell to 3.1% from June’s figure of 3.3%, in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters.

Japan’s core inflation strips out prices of fresh food.

The headline inflation rate for July came in at 3.3%, unchanged from June’s figure.

The so called “core-core” inflation metric, which strips out prices of fresh food and energy and used by the Bank of Japan in its monetary policy considerations, came in at 4.2%, down from 4.3% in June.

— Lim Hui Jie

August has been a rocky month for stocks so far.

For those looking for stocks that pulled back this month but still have upside potential, CNBC Pro screened the S&P 500 and the Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-U.S. index.

The resulting stocks have fallen into negative territory in August, but have average price target upside of at least 30%, and buy ratings from at least half of analysts covering them.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Investors are almost spoilt for choice between the safety of bonds and the potential upside from stocks.

On the one hand, the U.S. economy is showing signs of healthy growth, and some analysts expect stocks to continue soaring. At the same time, U.S. government bonds are offering more than 5% in risk-free yield.

Renowned value investor Guy Spier weighed in on CNBC’s Pro Talks on whether it’s better to invest in an S&P 500 index fund, U.S. Treasuries, or Berkshire Hathaway‘s stock for the long run.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read his response here.

— Ganesh Rao