Europe's stock markets ended mixed on Thursday, between a sharper-than-expected rise in US jobless claims and uncertainty over the extent of the US interest rate hike.

In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.12% to 7,315.88 points. The UK Footsie lost 0.63%, penalized by the decline in mining stocks, while Germany's Dax nibbled at 0.01%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index ended flat, losing 0.05%, the FTSEurofirst 300 0.12% and the Stoxx 600 0.22%.

At the time of closing in Europe, Wall Street was trimming the gains recorded at the start of the session: the Dow Jones and Standard & Poor's 500 indices were up by less than 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite by 0.3%.

Renewed risk appetite was supported for a time by the announcement that initial jobless claims in the US had risen to 211,000 last week, their highest level for two months.

"The market is on the lookout for any sign of a weakening labor market because the Fed believes inflation is driven by rising wages," said Jay Hatfield, portfolio manager at InfraCap. "Anything that shows a deceleration in employment is positive for bond and equity markets."

But investors remain very cautious. While this statistic is a positive for financial markets, several indicators have recently suggested that the labor market remains tight, which, along with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's "hawkish" remarks to Congress this week, have exacerbated fears that the institution will accelerate the pace of its monetary tightening.

These concerns could be reinforced or alleviated with Friday's eagerly-awaited release of the US employment report, which includes the number of jobs created in February.

VALUES

In equities, investors turned away from sectors generally sought after for their yield, such as real estate (-3.24%). Basic resources stocks (-2.72%) were also neglected.

In Paris, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield finished last on the CAC, down 3.83%.

Aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation soared 12.21% to a record close, after reporting better-than-expected annual results.

JCDecaux fell by 16.90%, as the Group forecast slower organic sales growth in 2023 and no dividend payment.

Credit Suisse lost 1.94%, as the bank postponed the publication of its annual report following points raised by the US securities regulator on its 2019 and 2020 accounts.

CHANGES

The dollar lost ground as a stronger-than-expected rise in jobless claims raised hopes that the Fed would not accelerate the pace of its rate hikes.

The index that measures its fluctuations against a basket of benchmarks fell by 0.41%, while the euro climbed 0.3% to 1.0576.

RATES

Yields on US government bonds were back on the decline: the ten-year yield stood at 3.9717% at the time of the European close, and the two-year, down nine basis points, below 5%.

On the European market, the yield on the ten-year German Bund ended the day stable at 2.637%.

OIL

After two sessions in the red, oil prices recovered, supported by the depreciation of the dollar, fuel supply disruptions in France and the fall in US crude inventories.

Brent crude gained 0.48% to $83.06 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) 0.55% to $77.08.

(Laetitia Volga, edited by Blandine Hénault)

by Laetitia Volga