French stocks were little changed on Friday, with nervousness over the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant coronavirus and uncertainty about government policy keeping underlying sentiment cautious.
Investors also awaited direction from a key U.S. jobs report due later in the day.
Economists currently expect the report to show employment surged up by 870,000 jobs in July after an increase of 850,000 jobs in June. The unemployment rate is expected to dip to 5.7 percent from 5.9 percent.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller said on Thursday that the U.S. economic recovery is progressing rapidly and the Fed would be able to pull back on accommodative monetary policy potentially sooner than others think.
Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari flagged risks from the delta virus variant, while Senator Joe Manchin urged Chair Jerome Powell to pare back economic stimulus to avoid stoking inflation.
The benchmark CAC 40 was marginally lower at 6,777 after rising half a percent on Thursday.
CAC 40 Struggles For Direction
2021-08-06 09:23:48
