Europe open: Stocks start day off on a mixed note
European stocks began the day on a mixed note despite a seventh straight session of gains overnight on Wall Street.
As of 0827 GMT the Stoxx 600 was off by 0.04% or 0.16 points to 371.31, the German Dax was edging higher by 0.05% or 5.31 points at 11,803.23 and France's Cac-40 was lower by 0.07% or 3.54 points to 4,921.32.
Wall Street extended its streak of gains to seven days overnight, with the benchmark S&P 500 closing at 2,349 - a fresh record high.
"Whatever political problems President Trump maybe having on the staffing front with resignations and the like financial markets remain largely ambivalent, choosing to focus on last week’s promise to deliver something 'phenomenal' in a couple of weeks’ time, as US markets hit new record highs for the fifth day in a row, driven by banks and financials," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC UK.
After the close of trading in Europe the previous day, US Boston Federal Reserve president Eric Rosengren told an audience in New York the central bank might need to hike interest rates more than three times over the course of 2017.
“It is my view that it will likely be appropriate to raise short-term interest rates at least as quickly as suggested by the Fed’s current…median forecast, and possibly even a bit more rapidly than that forecast,” Rosengren said.
In Thursday's data, French unemployment dropped from 10.1% in the third quarter of 2016 to 10.0% in the fourth quarter, but worse than the consensus forecast of 9.8%, according to INSEE.
Elsewhere, car registrations in the European Union jumped 10.2% to reach 1,170,220 units in January, according to ACEA.
"Persistently high unemployment remains a key story in the French economy. Worryingly, unemployment also rose over the quarter for the prime working age group, people aged 25-to-49, which are likely to be the most productive workers in the worker. The rise in joblessness was strongest among male workers. The upshot is that unemployment for younger workers fell sharply. Overall, we think the unemployment in France will fall further this year, but it remains stubbornly high," said Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
Company-wise, airlines and banks were in focus.
French carrier Air France-KLM SA saw net profits rocket as a sharp drop in its fuel costs straight through to the bottom line. Full-year 2016 net profit jumped from €118.0m the year before to €792.0m - despite a negative impact from FX. Operating income on the other hand was ahead by 34.5% to €1.05bn. Without currency headwinds operating profits would have been €558.0m higher. IAG and EasyJet were also lifted in its wake.
In other news, Unicredit said its adjusted 2016 cost/income ratio was 61.1%, higher than the 58.8% it had mistakenly included in an English-language full-year pre-close statement.
Also in Italy, Il Sole 24 Ore reported there was a large probability that the state might intervene in regional lenders Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca.