Europe finishes in the black after US adds 313K jobs in February
European stocks finished Friday’s trading session on a positive note, following a better-than-expected jobs report from out of the U.S..
The pan-European STOXX 600 provisionally rose 0.43 percent by the close, but off session highs. On the week, the STOXX 600 popped 3.05 percent.
Looking to European bourses, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent, while France’s CAC 40 rose 0.39 percent. Germany’s DAX however came under slight pressure, closing down 0.07 percent.
Equities in the region received a lift in the second half of the session after a report from the U.S. Labor Department revealed that the nation had added 313,000 jobs last month, surpassing analyst expectations of 200,000.
Construction was the biggest sectoral gainer, with 61,000 new job roles, followed by retail. At Europe’s close, Wall Street posted sharp gains following a strong jobs report, with the Dow soaring over 250 points.
While the majority of Europe’s sectors higher, autos fell 0.12 percent amid heightened fears of a global tit-for-tat trade war. Looking into the sector, Germany’s Schaeffler and Continental both slipped to the bottom of the sector, with the latter suffering from a rating downgrade from CFRA Research.
In individual stocks news, GVC Holdings posted a full-year net gaming revenue rise of 17 percent in 2017. The online gambling firm said its latest figures were lifted by gains from the bwin.party business it bought three years ago. Shares of GVC Holdings jumped 5 percent.
Meantime, shares of Lagardere tumbled over 7 percent after the French media group reported worse-than-expected earnings figures on Friday. The company forecast its 2018 operating profits to be stable in comparison to last year.
British satellite firm Inmarsat saw shares slip 6.7 percent after it reported earnings and said that it had cut its dividend, in order to spend more on delivering Wi-Fi on commercial planes, according to Reuters.
On Thursday, Trump implemented import tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum. Canada and Mexico were exempted from the global duties, with the U.S. president suggesting other allies could benefit from the exclusions.
Despite the concerns surrounding tariffs, basic resources outperformed other sectors Friday, as metal prices and oil prices extended gains.
In what has proved a boon for Asian markets, Trump also said Thursday that he would meet his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un. The first-of-its-kind U.S.-North Korea summit could mark significant progress in denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. Source: CNBC
