European shares eased from a record peak but held near flat on Friday. The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.1%. Germany's DAX was flat, France's CAC 40 gained 0.2% and London's FTSE 100 rose 0.3%, according to Investing.com.
The index is still on track for a 2.4% weekly gain, its strongest week since June, the report said. Investing.com attributed the muted session to a hardening consensus for Federal Reserve rate hikes and a leadership crisis at Nvidia. The report said Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang's decision to step down drove volatility in global technology shares. Nvidia shares were bracing for an 11% weekly decline, the report said.
European markets sheltered in value-oriented and defensive sectors, the report said. It described Europe's limited exposure to mega-cap technology as a factor that shielded the continent from the AI trade's rotational swings.
Crude oil prices were heading for a second consecutive weekly loss, according to the report.
Sean Peche, founder and portfolio manager at Ranmore Fund Management, said: "You've got to exit these waves before they crash. And in AI, we've got a big wave going on."
Markets have fully priced in a 25-basis-point Fed rate hike in December, following a hotter-than-expected October inflation report, the report said. Traders assigned a 15% probability to a 50-basis-point hike, the report said.
The report said Eurozone preliminary third-quarter GDP grew 0.4%, down from 0.6% in the previous quarter. Upcoming events include speeches by European Central Bank board members Frank Elderson and Isabel Schnabel, the U.S. Producer Price Index release, and remarks from Federal Reserve officials Susan Collins and Lorie Logan.