FX.co ★ European Stocks Close On Mixed Note

European stocks closed with a mixed performance last Friday. This comes as investors continued to process recent decisions by central banks and responded to unexpected strong U.S. non-farm payroll data. This data challenges expectations of an imminent interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

The Federal Reserve, having left interest rates unaltered after its recent policy meeting, stated a rate cut in March as highly unlikely. Meanwhile, the Bank of England, who also maintained their rates, hinted at a potential rate reduction in the near future.

The Department of Labor released data showing non-farm payroll employment exceeding expectations by adding 353,000 jobs in January. Economists initially predicted a number closer to 180,000. Further, the report noted an upwards revision of job growth figures for December. The total leapt to 333,000 jobs, quite a leap from the previously reported 216,000.

Unemployment for January remained consistent with December's figures at 3.7%, despite economists predicting a mild increase to 3.8%.

The European Stoxx 600 saw a slight increase of 0.01%. Germany's DAX grew by 0.35%, France's CAC 40 slightly rose by 0.05%, whilst the U.K's FTSE 100 dipped marginally by 0.09%. In Switzerland, the SMI gained 0.23%.

European markets displayed a mixed performance. Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Portugal closed lower, while Belgium, Greece, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey finished higher. The Netherlands and Russia ended flat.

In the UK, Barclays Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Tesco, Sainsbury J, and BT grew by 2.3 to 3.5%. However, Endeavour Mining saw a decline of over 3%. Other companies such as Mondi, Fresnillo, Ocado Group, Anglo American Plc, BP, Croda International, among others, experienced losses between 1 and 2.6%.

The German market saw Porsche rally 4.2%, along with significant gains for Deutsche Bank, and Mercedes-Benz. Adidas indicated intentions to sell its remaining Yeezy sneakers from the Kanye West collaboration at production cost, leading to a bump in its shares of over 1%.

Ing contrast, Siemens Healthineers dropped roughly 3%, and E.ON fell by 2.8%.

In France, Renault led the pack with a near 3% increase. Dassault Systemes, Sanofi, BNP Paribas, and Eurofins Scientific, however, saw notable declines.

Data from INSEE, the French statistical office, unveiled that France's industrial production more than doubled in December, growing by 1.1% monthly since November's 0.5% gains. This significantly outpaced the forecasted deceleration to 0.2%. Within manufacturing output, the production of food products and beverages rebounded 1.5% after a 0.9% fall the previous month.