European Stocks Close Lower Again On Growth Concerns

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed lower on Friday, extending recent losses, amid concerns about the health of the world's largest economy in the wake of disappointing jobs data.

The pan European Stoxx 600 fell 1.07%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended down 0.73%, Germany's DAX lost 1.48% and France's CAC 40 dropped 1.07%, while Switzerland's SMI settled 1.02% down. The FTSE 100 shed 2.3% in the week, while the DAX and CAC 40 lost 2.5% and 3.9%, respectively, in the week.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak.

Russia ended higher, while Iceland closed flat.

In the UK market, Vistry Group dropped more than 6%, and Burberry Group ended down 5.2%. Antofagasta, Associated British Foods, Anglo American Plc, Barclays, B&M European Value Retail, Glencore, Natwest Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Barratt Developments, Frasers Group, Shell, Melrose Industries, Centrica and Lloyds Banking Group lost 2 to 4%.

Severn Trent, Smith & Nephew, United Utilities, Relx, Endeavour Mining, AstraZeneca, Segro, Reckitt Benckiser, GSK, Compass Group, Land Securities Group and Buncl closed higher 0.7 to 1.5%.

In the German market, Siemens Energy tumbled 6.7%. Infineon, Munich RE, Continental, Volkswagen, BASF, Rheinmetall, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Siemens and Daimler Truck Holding lost 2 to 3.5%.

Hannover Rueck, Deutsche Bank, Fresenius, Zalando, Porsche, Allianz and HeidelbergCement also ended notably lower.

Deutsche Boerse, E.ON, Sartorius, MTU Aero Engines and Symrise closed higher.

In the French market, Kering, STMicroElectronics, Teleperformance, Renault, Saint Gobain, Airbus Group, Schneider Electric, BNP Paribas, Capgemini and Stellantis lost 1.7 to 3.6%.

Dassault Systemes, Unibail Rodamco and Danone gained 1.2 to 2%.

On the economic front, Euro area economic growth rate for the second quarter was revised down as the positive contributions from government consumption and net trade were partially offset by the slump in investment.

Gross domestic product grew 0.2% from the first quarter, which was revised down from 0.3% estimated initially, data from Eurostat showed.

Raising fears of a recession, Germany's industrial production declined more than expected in July on weaker automotive output and the trade surplus contracted in July as the growth in imports exceeded the rise in exports.

Industrial production decreased 2.4% month-on-month in July, in contrast to the increase of 1.7% in June, Destatis reported Friday. Output was forecast to fall 0.4%. In three months to July, industrial production was 2.7% lower than in the same period last year.

France's industrial production declined 0.5% on a monthly basis in July, reversing a 0.8% increase in the previous month.

France's trade deficit decreased in July from a year ago as imports fell faster than exports. The trade deficit dropped to EUR 5.88 billion in July from EUR 7.96 billion in the same month last year. The expected shortfall was EUR 6.5 billion.

UK house prices grew the most since late 2022 as easing borrowing costs boost confidence among prospective homebuyers, data published by the mortgage lender Halifax showed. House prices logged an annual growth of 4.3% in August, following a 2.4% rise in the preceding period. This was the fastest growth since November 2022 and also exceeded economists' forecast of 4.2%.

The U.S. Labor Department released a report showing employment in the world's largest economy rose by less than expected in the month of August.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 142,000 jobs in August compared to economist estimates for an increase of 160,000 jobs.

The report also said the increases in employment in June in July were downwardly revised to 118,000 jobs and 89,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net downward revision of 86,000 jobs.