By Barbara Kollmeyer
European stocks were headed for the best weekly return since November amid a flurry of fresh earnings news on Friday, while U.S. equity futures also rose modestly ahead of a big piece of data — nonfarm payrolls.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index /zigman2/quotes/210599654/delayed XX:SXXP +0.99% rose 0.3% to 410.90, poised for a weekly return of 3.8%, the best since the week ended Nov. 13, when the index rose 5.1%. The German DAX /zigman2/quotes/210597999/delayed DX:DAX +1.32% rose 0.1% and the FTSE 100 index /zigman2/quotes/210598409/delayed UK:UKX +0.74% was flat, but the French CAC 40 /zigman2/quotes/210597958/delayed FR:PX1 +1.29% gained 0.9% thanks to a batch of earnings.
U.S. stock futures /zigman2/quotes/209948968/delayed ES00 +0.76% /zigman2/quotes/210407078/delayed YM00 +0.61% were slightly higher, led by Nasdaq-100 futures /zigman2/quotes/210219788/delayed NQ00 +1.15% . The S&P 500 /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX -1.11% and Nasdaq Composite /zigman2/quotes/210598365/realtime COMP -1.68% hit fresh records on Thursday, boosted by a drop in COVID-19 deaths and cases, corporate results, and encouraging weekly jobless claims.
Investors on both sides of the Atlantic will be focused on January U.S. jobs data , with expectations for a jobs gain of 55,000, according to economists contacted by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. But the labor market continues to struggle from the winter onslaught of COVID-19.
U.S. drug company Johnson & Johnson /zigman2/quotes/201724570/composite JNJ +0.13% said it had submitted an application for an emergency-use authorization to the Food and Drug Administration for its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
In Europe, where cases are also starting to ease off amid tight restrictions, data from Germany revealed a bigger-than-expected drop in manufacturing orders for December.
Among stocks on the move, shares of Beazley /zigman2/quotes/209655690/delayed UK:BEZ -0.44% surged 13%, after the specialty insurer swing to a pretax loss for 2020, but said it was upbeat about its performance in 2021.
Shares of Vinci /zigman2/quotes/200895814/delayed FR:DG +2.09% jumped 5%, after the French construction company posted a sharp fall in profit due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but analysts cited a strong beat on free cash flow.
Carlsberg /zigman2/quotes/206906043/delayed DK:CARL.A +1.25% shares climbed over 3%, after the brewer proposed a bigger payout for shareholders as it posted a forecast-beating full-year net profit , citing cost cuts and a strong China rebound.
Shares of BNP Paribas /zigman2/quotes/206351084/delayed FR:BNP +0.88% rose 2%. The French bank reported a drop in fourth-quarter profit, hurt by record low interest rates and the pandemic, but forecast a rebound in revenue this year as the global economy picks up.
Sanofi /zigman2/quotes/206928357/delayed FR:SAN +1.07% /zigman2/quotes/201967021/composite SNY +1.58% shares rose 2%, after the French drug company swung to a profit for the fourth quarter of 2020, even as it posted a sales drop on the year.
Leading the decliners, shares of Finnish engineering group Neste /zigman2/quotes/202009726/delayed FI:NESTE -1.96% fell nearly 6% after reporting results, which included a drop in operating profit.
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