By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Europe's benchmark stock index erased
losses Friday in volatile afternoon action after
stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs numbers spurred confidence in the
world's largest economy.
The Stoxx Europe 600 traded 0.2% higher at 373.32, after trading
as low as 370.93 earlier in the day.
The turnaround came after the nonfarm-payrolls report from the
U.S. showed 257,000 new jobs were added to the economy in January,
beating analyst projections of a 230,000 print. The unemployment
rate, however, climbed to 5.7% from 5.6%, as more people entered
the workforce. U.S. stock futures moved firmly higher after the
data.
In Europe, banks led the move north for the Stoxx 600, with
shares of Barclays PLC (BCS) up 2.3%, Bankia SA 2.9% higher and
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA rising 3.9%.
However, the optimism over the U.S. jobs report wasn't enough to
shift all of Europe out of the negative gear. Greece's Athex
Composite was down 3.5% to 791.26, following a whirlwind week of
meetings by Greek officials as they laid the groundwork for
debt-renegotiation talks with international creditors. Eurozone
finance ministers have called an emergency meeting for Wednesday
next week to discuss how to get Greece and the rest of Europe
closer to a debt agreement.
Read: Greece and Germany can't even agree to disagree
The Greek index fell more than 3% on Thursday after the European
Central Bank restricted liquidity to Greek banks. On Friday,
National Bank of Greece shares were down 11%, Alpha Bank slid 14%
and Eurobank Ergasias dropped 8.7%.
But the Athens benchmark was still on track for a 9.8% weekly
advance, largely because of Tuesday's jump of 11% after Greece's
finance minister indicated the country won't ask the eurozone for a
debt haircut.
Among other European benchmarks, Germany's DAX 30 index lost
0.6% to 10,843.96, while France's CAC 40 index fell 0.2% to
4,693.37. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index slipped 0.1% to 6,861.80.
Tate & Lyle PLC moved sharply lower in London, with its
shares sliding 13% after the ingredients maker said it expects
full-year profit to come in below its previous forecast. Weak
performance in its bulk-ingredients unit in the third quarter is
likely to run through the fourth quarter, it said.
Germany engineering heavyweight Siemens AG (SIEGY) fell 1% after
saying it will cut about 7,800 jobs worldwide as part of a
restructuring program announced last year. The cuts will include
3,300 in Germany, which is considered the powerhouse of the
European economy. Siemens shares were off 1.4% in Frankfurt.
Shares of Fresenius SE lost 2.5% after Jefferies cut its rating
on the health-care group to hold from buy.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires