Traders work at their desks in front of the DAX board at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The DAX 30 closed up 0.3% at 10,752.10 points yesterday.

AFP
London

European stocks came off their lows yesterday after a US jobs report, showing the economy created jobs at a solid clip in November, heightening expectations the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this month. Frankfurt’s DAX 30 index closed in positive territory.
Earlier they had churned lower on lingering disappointment over “underwhelming” eurozone stimulus measures.
At close, London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.6% at 6,238.29 points, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 was up 0.3% at 10,752.10 and Paris’ CAC 40 was down 0.3% at 4,714.79.
European stocks had plunged on Thursday as the European Central Bank’s plan disappointed investors, sparking a global sell off that spilled over into Wall Street and Asia.
Speculation had swirled for weeks that the ECB would ramp up its bond-buying programme and loosen monetary policy to bolster growth and counter weak inflation.
Hopes were stoked on Wednesday by news that eurozone inflation languished at 0.1% in November — far lower than the ECB’s official 2.0% target.
The bank on Thursday cut deposit rates further into negative territory — meaning lenders must pay to park cash with it and so look to loan more — and extended the length of its bond purchases.
The news sent the euro surging on Thursday to a one-month peak at $1.0981, having earlier hit a 7.5-month low of $1.0524 in highly volatile deals.
“The euro moving from near multi-year lows to a one-month high in the space of a day has meant investors have had to quickly reassess their outlook for European stocks given the reduced export-advantage,” said Lawler.
The euro slid back to $1.0891 in trading yesterday.
European energy company shares fell sharply as the Opec failed to move to eliminate the glut in supply that has led to a collapse in prices over the past 18 months.
Shares in both BP and Shell both fell 2.4% in London trading, while Total shed 2.3% in Paris.
Wall Street equities also rebounded yesterday on the US jobs data. In midday trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood up 1.3%, with the broad-based S&P 500 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index managing similar gains.
The prospect of a rise in interest rates would normally not be good for equities, as it will increase the borrowing costs for companies, but the Fed finally beginning to raise its benchmark federal funds rate after having keeping it locked near zero for nearly seven years could also be taken as a signal the US economy has found its legs again.