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Investing.com - European stock markets closed lower Friday following the keenly-awaited monthly US payrolls report.

The DAX index in Germany fell 0.6%, while the CAC 40 in France declined 0.24% and the FTSE 100 in the UK fell 0.3%.

Nonfarm payrolls data

The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed at a record high on Thursday, helped by mostly robust company earnings.

European stocks have staged their best performance in a decade against Wall Street in the first six weeks of 2025, but doubts remain on whether these gains can be sustained given the weakness of the eurozone economy.

German industrial production fell more than expected in December, according to data released earlier Friday, decreasing by 2.4% compared with the previous month, weaker than the 0.6% fall expected.

Investors were cautiously awaiting the release of the all-important US jobs report for January on Friday. Nonfarm payrolls came in at 143,000 in January, down from an upwardly-revised level of 307,000 in December, according to data from the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Economists had seen the number at 169,000.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate cooled slightly to 4.0%, down from 4.1% in the previous month. The figure was tipped to match December's pace. Average hourly earnings growth accelerated to 0.5%, faster than expectations that it would equal 0.3% in December.

Danske Bank offers up solid Q4

There are more quarterly earnings for investors to digest as the week comes to an end.

Danske Bank (CSE: DANSKE ) stock rose 7.8% after the Danish lender reported solid financial results for the fourth quarter of 2024, supported by strong growth in core banking income, disciplined cost management, and credit quality.

Banco de Sabadell (BME: SABE ) stock fell 0.7% despite the Spanish lender reporting strong fourth quarter results with net profit rising by 75% compared to the same period in 2023, citing continued growth in net interest income, lower provisions, and improvements in asset quality.

Saab (ST: SAABb ) stock fell 1% after the Swedish defence equipment maker updated its medium-term targets for 2023-2027.

Legal & General (LON: LGEN ) stock initially surged more than 7% on Friday, but finished the day up 1.2% after the British life insurer said it would sell its US protection business to Japan's Meiji Yasuda for $2.3 billion in cash.

Henkel (ETR: HNKG ) stock rose 1.3% after the German consumer goods maker agreed it would sell its retailer brands business in North America to an affiliate of First Quality Enterprises, for an undisclosed amount.

Crude on track for weekly losses

Oil prices edged higher Friday, but were on track for a third straight negative week, hurt by the renewed trade war between China and the US, and the potential of tariff hikes from the Trump administration on other countries.

By 12:40 ET, the US crude futures (WTI) gained 0.3% to $70.80 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.4% to $74.56 a barrel.

Both benchmarks are on track to register losses of around 2% this week.

Trump announced a 10% tariff on Chinese imports earlier this week, but suspended plans to impose steep tariffs on Mexico and Canada. He has also threatened the European Union with duties on exports to the US, as part of a broad plan to improve the US trade balance.