EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Slip After U.S. Jobs Data Disappoint

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets moved lower with U.S. equities in afternoon action on Friday after the highly anticipated U.S. jobs report didn't thrill.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index lost 0.7% to 334.93, setting it on track for a 0.5% weekly slide.

France's CAC 40 index slid 0.8% to 4,192.26 while Germany's DAX 30 index dropped 0.8% to 9,305.96. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index added 0.3% to 6,569.79, boosted by oil firms and miners.

The euro (EURUSD) recovered slightly after a slide on Thursday on the back of comments from ECB President Mario Draghi that the central bank is ready to adopt new easing measures if needed. The shared currency traded at $1.2412, up from $1.2376 late Thursday.

Data: The keenly watched nonfarm payrolls report disappointed most analysts and investors, showing that 214,000 were added to the economy in October.

Although the figure is below a forecast of 243,000, revisions made to the September figures and a notch down in unemployment rate to 5.8%, were viewed as positives.

Still, the U.S. markets edged lower.

"I think there's a tinge of disappointment," said Michael Hewson, market analyst at CMC Markets. "Weekly jobless claims have recently been below 300,000, the employment component of the ISM report was good this week, so markets were pricing in a higher [nonfarm] number."

In European data, industrial-production numbers from Germany missed forecasts for September. Output from factories rose 1.4% month-on-month less than the 2% expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, export data were much stronger than expected, jumping 5.5% in September and nearly making up for the 5.8% slide in August.

French industrial production was flat in September on the month, which a bit better than the 0.2% decline expected.

Major movers: Vestas Wind Systems AS jumped 14% after the wind turbine manufacturer raised its full-year earnings forecast and swung to a profit in the third quarter.

Allianz SE climbed 4.7% after the German insurer increased its dividend-payout ratio.

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