LONDON, July 26 (Reuters) - European stocks and U.S. futures rebounded on Friday as markets stabilised after a week in which global equities have tumbled almost 2%, while the dollar regained ground against the yen ahead of U.S. inflation data.
Europe's continent-wide STOXX 600 index (.STOXX), rose 0.44% and was on track to end the week 0.2% higher after losing 2.7% last week.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.74%, after the index (.SPX), fell for a third consecutive day on Thursday to mark a 1.9% drop for the week to date.
Futures for the tech-laden U.S. Nasdaq index - which has slumped 7% over the past two weeks - jumped 1.07%.
Investors were awaiting the release of the U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index for June, the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, at 1230 GMT (8.30 a.m. ET).
"I think it could well serve as another reminder that inflation hasn't completely gone away," said Hugh Gimber, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management.
"I think markets have got ahead of themselves in terms of how quickly interest rates will fall over the next six to 12 months."
Equity markets - which had been trading at all time highs - have seen old favourites lose some allure and others pick up over the past two weeks after some cooler U.S. economic data sparked hopes that the Federal Reserve would soon be cutting rates.
Investors have snapped up smaller companies that are more closely tied to the economy and affected by borrowing costs. At the same time, they have ditched popular artificial intelligence plays such as Nvidia (NVDA.O), , helping to pull down global stocks (.MIWD00000PUS), by 1.7% this week.
Gimber said the better performance of European stocks this week compared to their U.S peers was part of the rotation out of big tech stocks.
Other stock markets also found a footing on Friday, with Germany's DAX index (.GDAXI), up 0.3% and Britain's FTSE 100 (.FTSE), 0.62% higher.
Japan's Nikkei (.N225), fell 0.53% overnight, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng (.HSI), rose 0.1%.
YEN UP 2% VS DOLLAR THIS WEEK
The Japanese yen, which has rallied 1.8% this week, fell from around a 12-week high as investors took a pause ahead of Bank of Japan and Federal Reserve interest rate decisions next Wednesday.
The dollar was last up 0.47% against the yen at 154.30.
Meanwhile, the index tracking the dollar against six peers was little changed at 104.39, while the euro was very slightly higher at $1.0855.
The yen has been drive higher by expectations that the Fed could cut while Japan raises rates in the coming months, as well as by suspected BOJ intervention earlier this month.
The rally gathered steam this week as investors abandoned long-held bets against the yen, forcing them to buy back the Japanese currency.
Data on Thursday that showed the U.S. economy grew more than expected in the second quarter helped to calm the yen rally, although did little to change traders' bets on two or three Fed cuts this year, starting in September.
"The way we can describe (this week) is an unwinding of consensus long positions in growth and AI stocks, and an unwinding of consensus long carry positions," said Max Kettner, chief multi-asset strategist at HSBC.
Kettner said strong earnings reports from Amazon (AMZN.O), , Apple (AAPL.O), and Microsoft (MSFT.O), next week could stem the selling in stocks. "Markets could remain a bit nervous until then."
U.S. 10-year Treasury yields were slightly lower on Friday at 4.235% and were set to end the week roughly flat. Shorter-dated yields , which are more sensitive to interest rate expectations, have fallen 7 basis points this week.
Oil prices slipped somewhat with the global benchmark Brent crude price down 0.4% at $82.03 a barrel.
Reporting by Harry Robertson in London; additional reporting by Kevin Buckland in Tokyo; Editing by William Mallard, Kevin Liffey, Edwina Gibbs and Gareth Jones
