Spain's IBEX 35 stock index opened lower on Friday, in what could be its third consecutive negative session, heading for its biggest weekly cut since mid-June amid worries about global economic growth.

After closing Thursday with a fall of almost 2%, the selective index did not lift its head and lost close to 1%, dragged down by the banking sector and other large stocks such as Inditex and Amadeus, while it awaits crucial data on US employment.

The latest macroeconomic figures from the US have rekindled fears of a major slump in the world's largest economy, leaving aside the positive reaction that signs of economic weakness sometimes provoke in equities - due to the hope of interest rate cuts.

Against this backdrop, the Nasdaq fell more than 2% on Thursday and an index of Asian stock markets was heading for its worst day in more than two years on Friday.

In this sense, the markets will be very attentive to the publication of the monthly data on the U.S. labor market, a report closely followed by the Federal Reserve (Fed) that will provide clues on the evolution of activity in the world's leading economy. A Reuters poll of analysts points to the creation of 175,000 jobs in July, down from 206,000 in the previous month.

From Renta 4, Natalia Aguirre, Director of Analysis and Strategy, points out in a note for investors that the Fed's first cut could actually come sooner than previously anticipated, due to the slowdown in inflation and the progressive cooling of the US labor market.

"All this justifies the Fed to start its rate cut in September, as Chairman Powell has pointed out in his last appearances when he has shown more confidence in reaching the 2% inflation target in the medium term."

Markets were quick to adjust following Thursday's data, with traders now seeing a 27.5% chance that the Fed will cut interest rates by 50 basis points on September 18, down from 12% a day earlier, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.

At 07:07 GMT on Friday, Spain's IBEX 35 was down 89.60 points, or 0.83%, to 10,764.70 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was down 1.04%.

For the week as a whole, the IBEX 35 showed a decline of 3.41%.

In the banking sector, Santander lost 2.01%, BBVA fell 1.69%, Caixabank dropped 2.01%, Sabadell fell 2.06%, Bankinter lost 1.70% and Unicaja Banco lost 1.49%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica fell 1.13%, Inditex dropped 0.85%, Iberdrola gained 0.37%, Cellnex gained 0.33%, and the oil company Repsol lost 0.11%.

(Information by Javi West Larrañaga; edited by Tomás Cobos)