European stock markets extended gains on Friday as investors digested the latest round of earnings reports and waited for the highly anticipated U.S. nonfarm-payrolls report due in the afternoon.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index climbed 0.2% to 323.50, building on gains from Thursday, when the benchmark posted its biggest advance since Dec. 19.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX 30 index was up 0.1% and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.1%.
The National Institute for Social and Economic Research said the UK’s economic recovery has become “entrenched”.
NIESR also said it expected unemployment to fall below 7% before the end of the year. NIESR expects consumer spending to remain the key driver of recovery in 2014 and 2015, supported by continued buoyancy in the housing market.
The NIESR said it now forecasts a rise in interest rates as early as the second quarter of 2015, though this is expected to be a year after the 7% threshold is breached.
France’s CAC 40 index fell 0.1%.
Among notable movers in Friday’s action, shares of Air France-KLM SA gained 3.2% after the airline said passenger traffic rose 3.8% in January.
Shares of ArcelorMittal rose 2.8% after the French steelmaker said its loss narrowed in the fourth quarter, helped by cost saving and a rise in steel and iron-ore shipments. Peer firm ThyssenKrupp AG gained 0.8%.
On a more downbeat note, shares of Skanska AB dropped 3.1% after the Swedish construction firm reported fourth-quarter profit and revenue below analyst expectations.
Later in the day, attention turns to the U.S., where the closely watched nonfarm-payrolls report and unemployment rate are due to come.
The Labor Department is forecast to show U.S. employers boosted payrolls by 180,000 in January. That compares with a December increase of 74,000, the smallest since January 2011. The unemployment rate is projected to remain at 6.7%, the lowest level since 2008.
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