Stock indices traded higher as market participants are awaiting the release of the U.S. labour market data later in the day. Analysts expect that U.S. unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 5.0% in January. The U.S. economy is expected to add 190,000 jobs in January, after adding 292,000 jobs in December.
Meanwhile, the economic data from the Eurozone was mixed. Destatis released its factory orders data for Germany on Friday. German seasonal adjusted factory orders declined 0.7% in December, missing expectations for a 0.5% decrease, after a 1.5% rise in November.
The drop was driven by a decrease in domestic orders. Foreign orders increased by 0.6% in December, while domestic orders dropped by 2.5%.
New orders from the Eurozone declined 6.9% in December, while orders from other countries climbed 5.5%.
Orders of the intermediate goods decreased by 2.0% in December, capital goods orders were down 0.5%, while consumer goods orders climbed 4.3%.
According to the French Customs, France’s trade deficit narrowed to €3.94 billion in December from €4.53 billion in November, exceeding expectations for a decline to a deficit of €4.4 billion. November’s figure was revised up from a deficit of €4.63 billion.
Exports declined 0.9% in December, while imports dropped 2.2%.
On a yearly basis, exports rose 1.8% in December, while imports gained 2.9%.
In 2015 as whole, the trade deficit fell to €45.7 billion from €58.3 billion in 2014.
Current figures:
Name Price Change Change %
FTSE 100 5,930.8 +32.04 +0.54 %
DAX 9,426.21 +32.85 +0.35 %
CAC 40 4,260.24 +31.71 +0.75 %
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