European stock markets opened in mixed territory on Friday, influenced by corporate earnings reports, monetary policy decisions, and the highly anticipated release of key U.S. jobs data.
European markets opened in mixed territory on Friday, as corporate earnings, monetary policy and key U.S. jobs data remained in focus. The pan-European Stoxx 600 was little changed shortly after the opening bell, with major bourses mostly trading flat. London's FTSE 100 was down 0.1% during early morning deals. The mixed performance followed a flurry of company earnings reports and an interest rate cut from the Bank of England, which on Thursday signaled more cuts were on the horizon in 2025.
However, it also halved its growth projection for Britain, slashing its 2025 growth forecast from 1.5% to 0.75%. On Thursday, the Bank of England also warned that even if the U.K. manages to avoid U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs regime, a trade war between the U.S. and another major economy will have an effect on Britain. Friday will see the release of January U.S. jobs data, which is scheduled for publication at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists polled by Dow Jones are anticipating nonfarm payrolls growth to have cooled to 169,000 new jobs in January, down from the 256,000 jobs added in December. In Europe, data releases will include French and German import and export data, house price data from the U.K., and an industrial production print from Spain. Meanwhile, Spanish bank Sabadell posted a quarterly profit beat and increased shareholder returns, as its CEO slammed the odds of a hostile takeover from domestic peer BBVA. Amid an all-time high annual contribution from British unit TSB, Sabadell reported fourth-quarter net profit of 532 million euros ($552 million), up 5.7% quarter-on-quarter and beating analyst expectations of near 436 million euros, in a Reuters-cited poll. Annual net profit jumped 37.1% year-on-year to 1.83 billion euros in 2024, with return on tangible equity — a measure of profitability — hitting 14.9% over the full-year stretch, compared with 11.5% in 2023. The bank said it would hike its shareholder returns to 3.3 billion euros, compared with a previous 2.9 billion-euro estimate, and announced a 1 billion-euro share buyback. It remains steadfastly opposed to last spring's merger offer from BBVA, which the Spanish government has also questioned on competition grounds, Sabadell CEO César González-Bueno told CNBC Friday. 'We are Spain's fourth largest bank, but we are key for the SME business. If we disappeared that competition would suffer. And that is creating this phenomenal execution risk because it is the result of a social reaction to something that Spain does not want. And of course, as I said in the beginning, on top of that, they are not paying the price,' he said on 'Squawk Box Europe.' Expressing doubts that the deal would progress in the absence of an improved offer, he stressed:'With everything that it's on the table, the answer is a very, very clear 'No.''Investors have piled into actively managed funds at a much faster pace relative to their passive peers, with their assets under management surpassing $1 trillion for the first time in 2024, data from Morningstar showed. Meanwhile, average house prices in South London reached a record high in February 2025., bringing it to £299,138 ($372, 013). On an annual basis, average house prices were up 3%, according to Halifax's House Price Index. London's FTSE 100 is expected to open 24 points lower at 8,712 points, according to IG data. The German Dax index is slated to open 17 points lower at 21,896, the data suggests, while the French CAC 40 is expected to shed 22 points to 8,000 at the market open. The big January jobs report comes out Friday. Here's what to expect.
EUROPEAN MARKETS BANK OF ENGLAND EARNINGS REPORTS JOBS DATA US ECONOMY STOCK MARKET
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