European Stocks Fail To Hold Early Gains, Close Broadly Lower

European stocks failed to hold early gains and closed broadly lower on Friday, as the mood turned cautious ahead of the second round of the French legislative elections on Sunday.

Investors digested the crucial jobs data from the U.S., and assessed the likely move of the Federal Reserve in upcoming monetary policy meetings.

Stocks edged higher early on in the session after the Labour Party secured a landslide victory in the U.K. election to end 14 years of Conservative rule, as widely expected.

Regarding Sunday’s parliamentary elections in France, opinion polls show the second-round run-off vote may lead to a hung parliament with no clear majority.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.18%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 drifted down 0.45%, France’s CAC 40 ended lower by 0.26%, and Germany’s DAX edged up 0.14%. Switzerland’s SMI dropped 0.52%.

Among other markets in Europe, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak. Austria and Portugal edged down marginally.

Denmark, Greece, Iceland and Russia ended higher, while Belgium settled flat.

In the UK market, HSBC Holdings, Whitbread, IHG, Standard Chartered, Smiths Group, Ashtead Group and Aviva ended lower by 2 to 2.6%.

Rio Tinto ended nearly 2% down. Barclays Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, BP, Smith (DS), Prudential, Mondi, Shell, BAE Systems and 3i Group also ended notably lower.

Smurfit Kappa Group, United Utilities, Vistry Group, Severn Trent, Fresnillo, Taylor Wimpey, Marks & Spencer, Barratt Developments, Persimmon, Berkeley Group Holdings, B&M European Value Retail and Sainsbury (J) gained 2 to 3.5%.

In the German market, Rheinmetall fell nearly 5%. Deutsche Boerse, Deutsche Bank, Munich RE, BASF, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Hannover Rueck and BMW lost 0.6 to 1.6%.

Continental rallied nearly 4%. Sartorius, Infineon, Vonovia, Porsche, RWE, Zalando, Fresenius, Puma and SAP gained 1 to 3%.

In the French market, Accor ended down 2.3%. Schneider Electric, Air Liquide, Stellantis and Safran lost 1 to 1.2%.

Eurofins Scientific climbed about 4.5%. STMicroElectronics, Vinci, Dassault Systemes, Engie, Carrefour, Orange, Vivendi, Veolia and Societe Generale posted sharp to moderate gains.

In European economic news, eurozone retail sales edged up 0.1% on a monthly basis in May following a 0.2% drop in April, Eurostat said. Sales were expected to climb 0.2%. Sales of food, drinks and tobacco posted a monthly increase of 0.7%.

Germany’s industrial production declined unexpectedly in May suggesting that the economy is losing steam, official data revealed. Industrial production posted a monthly decline of 2.5% in May, reversing a revised 0.1% rise in April, Destatis reported. Output was expected to grow 0.2%.

France’s industrial production declined at the steepest pace in just over one-and-half years in May amid weak manufacturing output. Industrial output fell 2.1% on a monthly basis, reversing a 0.6% rebound in the previous month.

France’s trade deficit rose to EUR 7.98 billion in May from EUR 7.56 billion in April.Exports posted a monthly decline of 1.7%, and imports were 0.7% lower.

UK house prices dropped in June after remaining stable for two straight months, signaling that the property market remained subdued, mortgage lender Halifax reported Friday. House prices fell 0.2% month-on-month in June, in contrast to the expected increase of 0.2%. A typical UK house costs GBP 288,455. Compared to the last year, house prices climbed 1.6%.

In U.S., the Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment shot up by 206,000 jobs in June compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 190,000 jobs. The report also showed the increases in employment in April and May were downwardly revised to 108,000 jobs and 218,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net downward revision of 111,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate also rose for the third straight month, inching up to 4.1% in June from 4% in May. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged. With the unexpected uptick, the unemployment rate reached its highest level since hitting a matching rate in November 2021.