Western European stock indexes are mainly down during the trading on Friday, following the Asian stock markets.
Investors are waiting for the report on the U.S. labor market for November, which will be released at 15:30 ksec.
The consensus forecast of experts polled by Trading Economics expects the number of jobs in the U.S. economy to increase by 200,000 in November and the unemployment rate to remain at 3.7%.
The November labor market report is important to the Federal Reserve (Fed), which will hold its next meeting on December 13-14. Judging by futures quotations for the prime rate, the market expects the Fed to raise it by 50 bps. – to 4.25-4.5% per annum.
The composite index of the region’s biggest companies Stoxx Europe 600 had shed 0.25 percent to 442.84 points by 11.16 a.m. Ksk.
Germany’s DAX is up 0.16% while Britain’s FTSE 100 is down 0.32%, France’s CAC 40 is down 0.27%, Italy’s FTSE MIB is up 0.22% and Spain’s IBEX 35 is also down 0.22%.
Traders are analyzing the fresh batch of statistics and corporate news.
The total volume of German exports in October, adjusted for calendar and seasonal factors, decreased by 0.6% compared to the previous month to 133.5 billion euros, according to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis).
Imports fell 3.7% to 126.6 billion euros. Germany’s foreign trade surplus was €6.9 billion the month before last, down from a revised €2.8 billion in September.
Meanwhile, industrial output in France fell 2.6% month-on-month in October, following a 0.9% decline in September. Economists polled by FactSet had expected a 0.2% decline.
Shares of British retailer ASOS PLC are down 0.3%. Kathy Mecklenberg, the company’s interim CFO, will resign to become the CFO of Softcat PLC, an IT company.
Volvo Car AB papers are down 0.25%. The Swedish car maker increased car sales by 12% year-on-year in November on the back of sustained strong demand.
The share price of Wizz Air Holdings PLC is up 1.9%. The European low-cost carrier carried 3.7 million passengers in November compared to 2.2 million in the same month a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Thus, the index increased by 70%.
The leaders in the decline among the components of the index Stoxx Europe 600 are shares of Swedish investment Kinnevik AB, which fell by 5.3%.
