European Markets Finished Little Changed After U.S. Jobs Report

(RTTNews) - The European markets ended Friday's session with mixed results, but the majority finished with slight gains. The markets were locked in a narrow trading range throughout the day and did not stray too far away from the flat line in either direction.

The markets were down in early trade, as investors exercised caution ahead of the release of the highly anticipated U.S. jobs report. Following the release of the report, the markets pared their losses and some manage to climb into positive territory.

A report released by the Labor Department on Friday showed that employment in the U.S. rose by less than anticipated in the month of December. The report said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 156,000 jobs in December, while economists had expected an increase of about 175,000 jobs.

The report also said the unemployment rate inched up to 4.7 percent in December from 4.6 percent in November, matching economist estimates.

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index weakened by 0.06 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks increased 0.14 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 0.04 percent.

The DAX of Germany climbed 0.12 percent and the CAC 40 of France rose 0.19 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. gained 0.20 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished higher by 0.30 percent.

In Frankfurt, Deutsche Lufthansa dropped 3.13 percent after it was downgraded to "Sell" from "Neutral" at UBS.

In Paris, Sanofi fell 2.02 percent after a U.S. federal judge ruled against the drug maker and partner Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a patent infringement case covering a cholesterol drug.

In London, Lloyds Banking Group climbed 1.93 percent after a rating upgrade by research analysts at Barclays Plc.

easyJet rose 0.68 percent after the low-cost airline reported improved passenger numbers and load factor for December.

TUI decreased 0.51 percent after it was downgraded to "Neutral" from "Buy" at UBS.

Reinforced polymer products maker Fenner jumped 13.64 percent after saying it is expecting better FY results.

Eurozone economic and business confidence strengthened to the highest level in more than five years in December, shrugging off political uncertainties from the 'Brexit' vote and national elections in member countries in 2017.

The economic sentiment index improved to 107.8 in December from 106.6 in November, survey results from the European Commission showed Friday. This was the highest level since March 2011, when the reading was 108.3 and also above the expected level of 106.8.

Eurozone retail sales decreased in November after rebounding in the previous month, figures from Eurostat showed Friday. Retail sales volume fell a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent month-over-month in November, reversing a 1.4 percent rise in October, which was revised up from a 1.1 percent gain reported earlier.

Germany's factory orders declined in November on widespread weakness across domestic and foreign markets and retail sales shrank on subdued spending.

Factory orders dropped by a bigger-than-expected 2.5 percent in November from October, when they grew by a revised 5 percent, Destatis reported Friday. A similar pace of decline was last seen in November 2014.

Orders were forecast to decrease 2.4 percent after posting an initially estimated rise of 4.9 percent.

Another report from Destatis showed that retail sales dropped 1.8 percent month-on-month in November, in contrast to a revised 2.5 percent rise in October. Economists had forecast a 0.9 percent decline. The latest fall was the first since March.

The French trade deficit narrowed to a three-month low in November, the customs office reported Friday. The trade deficit declined more-than-expected to EUR 4.37 billion in November from EUR 5.15 billion in October. This was the lowest since August. The shortfall was forecast to fall to EUR 4.8 billion.

The French current account gap narrowed in November from a month earlier, data from the Bank of France showed Friday. The current account deficit dropped to EUR 2.3 billion in November from EUR 3.2 billion in October.

With imports rising and exports falling, the Commerce Department released a report on Friday showing that the U.S. trade deficit widened by more than expected in the month of November. The report said the trade deficit widened to $45.2 billion in November from a revised $42.4 billion in October. The trade deficit had been expected to widen to $44.5 billion.

After reporting a sharp increase in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Friday showing that factory orders pulled back in the month of November.

The Commerce Department said factory orders tumbled by 2.4 percent in November after spiking by a revised 2.8 percent in October. Economists had expected factory orders to slump by 2.5 percent compared to the 2.7 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.