European stocks diverge on mixed US jobs report

LONDON, Nov 8 (AFP): European stock markets diverged on Friday after a mixed report on US jobs while the euro recovered ground against the dollar after a strong week for the greenback.
The Paris CAC 40 dropped 0.89 per cent to 4,189.89 points, while in Frankfurt the DAX 30 fell 0.91 per cent to 9,291.83, but London's benchmark FTSE 100 index added 0.25 per cent to 6,567.24 points thanks to gains by mining stocks.
Madrid slumped 1.32 per cent and Milan shed 0.99 per cent.
The markets focused on the mixed US jobs data which showed the jobs count came in below the 235,000 expected by analysts while the unemployment rate fell one-tenth of a per centage point to 5.8 per cent, its lowest level since July 2008.
"European markets were meandering around opening levels for the best part of the day in anticipation of volatility from across the pond coming from the US non-farm payrolls employment report," said CMC Markets UK analyst Jasper Lawler.
"The fireworks didn't happen though and European investors took profits largely undoing all the gains made this week," he added.
Wall Street was more stable after the Department of Labor's report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.02 per cent to 17,550.90 points in midday trading.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.06 per cent to stand at 2,032.47 points, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slid 0.26 per cent to 4,626.86.
Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare called the report "more good than bad, but not indisputably great."
Europe's markets had rallied on Thursday as European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi signalled that the ECB was readying further stimulus measures if needed to combat deflation and stagnation within the eurozone.