(Reuters) – European shares edged lower on Friday, following sharp losses in the previous session, after U.S. data that showed a still strong labor market, while investors await a key U.S. jobs report due later in the day for more clues on interest rate outlook.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.4% by 0710 GMT, set for its worst week since mid-March, led by declines in utilities shares, which slid 1.2%.
UK’s FTSE 100 index also fell 0.6%.
European equities took a hit on Thursday after private payrolls in the United States surged far more than expected in June, suggesting the labor market remained solid despite growing risks of a recession.
The data also prompted a surge in the U.S. two-year treasury yield to a 16-year high while in the UK, the yield on 10-year gilts rose its most elevated since 2008.
Investors will be hawkeyed on the American non-farm payrolls report, due at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT). The report is expected to show a drop in number of jobs created in the U.S. in June compared to a month earlier.
Shell edged 0.2% lower after Europe’s largest oil and gas company said on Friday it expects second-quarter trading at its gas division to be “significantly lower” compared with the previous quarter.
(Reporting by Matteo Allievi in Gdansk and Shubham Batra in Bangalore; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
