Sawt Falasteen - Stocks diverge as all eyes on corporate earnings

While Wall Street opened higher its main indices slid into the red during morning trading, with investors looking forward to Friday's release of consumer price inflation (CPI) data for January for further clues on potential rate cuts.

"Caught between payrolls and CPI, US markets have found themselves unable to maintain momentum," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG trading platform, referring to the jobs report and inflation data.

In Europe, Paris ended with a gain after striking a fresh record high. London's blue-chip FTSE 100 index did the same but ended the day lower, as data showed the British economy managing only tepid growth in the final quarter of last year.

"The strength seen in Europe... comes from improved earnings data from some of the big hitters," said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.

Shares in German industrial giant Siemens jumped 5.8 percent as it raised its outlook for the year after a strong first quarter boosted by spending on artificial intelligence.

In Paris, RayBan maker EssilorLuxottica shares rose 3.8 percent as its fourth-quarter earnings beat market expectations. Hermes climbed 2.8 percent after reporting 2025 sales growth despite the impact of US tariffs and a weaker dollar.

But French pharma giant Sanofi sank 4.2 percent after the surprise ouster of its chief executive Paul Hudson, suggesting growing concerns about the company's pipeline for new products. He will be replaced by Belen Garijo, currently chief of Germany's Merck KGaA.

Asian markets were subdued after the lacklustre US close on Wednesday, where tech firms came in for further selling amid concerns of the scale of massive AI investments and their eventual impact on various industries.

"US stocks are still failing to offer much in the way of compelling risk-reward, especially as AI fear continues to move from sector to sector," said IG's Beauchamp.

Investors were also reacting to a stronger than expected US jobs report on Wednesday that allayed concerns about the state of the world's biggest economy, even though it reduced expectations for Fed interest rate cuts to spur growth.

Around 130,000 US jobs were created last month, more than double what was forecast, while unemployment unexpectedly dipped.

The reading soothed concerns about the economy that had been stoked by a report earlier this week showing weak US consumer activity.

"This was a solid report across headline job creation, unemployment, and wage growth, easing concerns over the health of the US labour market," said Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index.

However, "the markets have pushed back on expectations for the next rate cut by the Federal Reserve to July, compared to June previously," she added.

- Key figures at around 1630 GMT -

New York - Dow: DOWN 1.0 percent at 49,634.57 points

New York - S&P 500: DOWN 1.2 percent at 6,858.31

New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 1.8 percent at 22,649.87

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.7 at 10,402.44 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 8,340.56 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: FLAT at 24,852.69 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: FLAT at 57,639.84 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9 percent at 27,032.54 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 4,134.02 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1867 from $1.1874 on Wednesday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3624 from $1.3628

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 152.46 yen from 153.14 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 87.10 pence from 87.13 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.7 percent at $68.19 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.8 percent at $63.48 per barrel

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I.Yassin--SF-PST