Market Update
European equities were little-changed Friday morning as investors waited for further cues on the U.S. labor market and its implications on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.
The FTSE 100 was flat at 8:47 a.m. London time. The CAC 40 Paris slipped 0.1% while the DAX Frankfurt hugged the flat-line.
A day after the European Central Bank decided in favour of retaining interest rates low at a record 0.25% across the entire euro region, markets turned their focus towards the U.S., where employment data is due to be released later in the day.
Investors are likely to read into this figures to get an insight of how strong or weak is the recovery in the U.S. labour market.
Back in Europe, a German constitutional court referred the ECB's bond-purchase program to a higher European court, as the court thought the program might violate European Union law.
In London, some economic reports are also scheduled for release during the course of the day. Official data on industrial and manufacturing production as well as trade balance will be released 4:40 p.m. Eastern time.
Meanwhile, French trade balance increased less than expected in the previous month, according to official statistics.
Stocks on the Move
Financials were trading mixed, Societe Generale SA and Credit Agricole SA edged up 0.4% each in France.
German lender Deutsche Bank AG lost around a per cent but Commerzbank AG was up 0.5%.
In London, Barclays Plc. inched up 0.2% while HSBC Holdings slipped 0.4%.