EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Set To Break Three-day Losing Streak

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets hovered around the flat line on Wednesday, after a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report erased earlier gains for the benchmark index.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was flat around 317.64, after trading as high as 319.21 earlier in the day.

Among notable movers, shares of Swatch Group AG jumped 4.4% after the watchmaker reported better-than-expected full-year earnings for 2013 and forecast a rebound in demand from China.

Swedish engineering firm Alfa Laval AB rallied 5.6% after reporting a 16% rise in order intake and a 9% improvement in net sales in the fourth quarter.

On a more downbeat note, shares of Syngenta AG lost 3.2% after the seed and chemical firm said profit dropped in 2013.

More broadly, European indexes shed earlier gains in the afternoon after the ADP employment data for the U.S. showed 175,000 private-sector jobs were added to the economy in January. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected a reading of 185,000. The data came ahead of the closely watched nonfarm-payrolls report out on Friday, which is expected to show 190,000 new jobs were added to the economy in January and that the unemployment rate dropped to 6.6%, according to a MarketWatch poll.

In Europe, data for Spain showed activity in the country's services sector increased at the fastest pace in six-and-a-half years in January, with the first rise in employment since February 2008.

The IBEX 35 index , however, fell 0.1% to 9,747.60, erasing gains after the U.S. data.

Elsewhere, France's CAC 40 index fell 0.1% to 4,114.04, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index gained 0.2% to 6,463.74. Germany's DAX 30 index dropped 0.3% to 9,103.17. ThyssenKrupp AG added pressure in Frankfurt, off 1.6%, after HSBC cut the industrial conglomerate to underweight from neutral.

ArcelorMittal SA climbed 1.2% in Paris after HSBC lifted the steelmaker to overweight from neutral.

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