European stocks wiped off early losses and ended on a mixed note on Thursday after data from U.S. Labor Department showing a bigger than expected drop in jobless claims helped ease concerns about growth in the worlds largest economy.
Investors also digested corporate earnings updates.
Labor Departments report said initial jobless claims fell to 233,000, a decrease of 17,000 from the previous weeks revised level of to 250,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 240,000 from the 249,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The data has helped ease concerns about the strength of the labor market, which have contributed to recent selling on Wall Street.
Closer home, the European Central Bank can continue lowering interest rates if there is increased confidence among policymakers that inflation is slowing, ECB Governing Council member and Bank of Finland governor Olli Rehn said Wednesday.
More rate cuts cannot hurt the fragile economic growth and the subdued investment, especially in industry, Rehn said in a speech in the Finnish city Mikkeli.
The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.08%. The U.K.s FTSE 100 ended down 0.27% and Frances CAC 40 closed 0.26% down, while Germanys DAX gained 0.37% and Switzerlands SMI ended lower by 0.13%.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia and Spain ended weak.
Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher.
In the UK market, Beazley soared more than 10%. The insurer reported better-than-expected first-half results and upgraded its combined ratio forecast for 2024.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals zoomed about 8.25% after the company raised its full-year guidance, buoyed by robust performance in its Branded and Generics divisions.
Entain gained 5.1% after raising its full-year earnings forecast. Persimmon climbed 2.8% after the company said it expects to build at the top end of its previous housebuilding target range in 2024.
RightMove gained 2.7%. Hargreaves Lansdown, GSK, Burberry Group, EasyJet and Anglo American Plc ended higher by 0.9 to 1.8%.
Spirax Group ended down 7.4%. United Utilities and BT Group lost 4.4% and 4%, respectively. JD Sports Fashion, WPP, Segro, Fresnillo, Natwest Group, Frasers Group, Ashtead Group, Prudential, B&M European Value Retail, Rentokil Initial and Croda International ended lower by 1.4 to 2.7%.
In the German market, Allianz gained more than 2% after posting better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and affirming full-year targets.
Deutsche Telekom shares moved up sharply after the company raised its free cash flow outlook after reporting in-line Q2 core earnings.
Zalando, Rheinmetall, Siemens, Daimler Truck Holding and Merck gained 1.3 to 3%. Continental, Bayer and Siemens Healthineers posted moderate gains.
Puma dropped 3.7% and Commerzbank ended 3.1% down. Brenntag lost 2.8%, while Deutsche Post, Beiersdorf and MTU Aero Engines closed lower by 1.5 to 2%.
In the French market, Engie climbed about 1.2%. Eurofins Scientific, Accor and Sanofi closed modestly higher.
Teleperformance ended down 3.1%. LOreal, Airbus Group, Veolia, Vinci, Unibail Rodamco, Bouygues and Legrand lost 0.7 to 1.25%.