BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The European markets were stuck in a sideways pattern throughout Thursday's session. The majority of the markets ended the day with small losses as trading volume remained light. A number of investors remain away from their desks following the Christmas holiday and ahead of the upcoming New Year's holiday weekend.
Economic news remained on the light side as the end of the year approaches. The lack of any major news also contributed to the lackluster trading action.
Eurozone's economic expansion remains solid and broad-based, and is expected to sustain its strong momentum into next year, the European Central Bank said in its regular bulletin.
'Overall, incoming data are generally pointing to unabated upside growth momentum in the fourth quarter of 2017 and around the turn of the year, with robust growth expected to continue in 2018,' the ECB said.
That said, the 19-nation economy still need the support from abundant monetary stimulus to see a return of inflation to near 2 percent, despite a strong and broad-based expansion in output, the bank said.
The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index weakened by 0.33 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased 0.73 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 0.35 percent.
The DAX of Germany dropped 0.69 percent and the CAC 40 of France fell 0.55 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. gained 0.03 percent, but the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 0.26 percent.
UK mortgage approvals declined to a 15-month low in November, data from UK Finance showed Thursday. The number of mortgages approved in November fell to 39,507 from 40,417 in October. This was the lowest since August 2016, when approvals totaled 38,308.
The UK private sector growth picked up in the fourth quarter, the Confederation of British Industry said Thursday. According to the latest growth indicator, the balance of firms reporting a rise in output was +19 percent, compared with +6 percent in the three months to November.
First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly came in unchanged in the week ended December 23rd, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday. The report said initial jobless claims came in at 245,000, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised level. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 240,000.
Chicago-area business activity unexpectedly expanded at a faster rate in the month of December, MNI Indicators revealed in a report on Thursday. MNI Indicators said its Chicago business barometer climbed to 67.6 in December from 63.9 in November, with a reading above 50 indicating growth.
The increase surprised economists, who had expected the business barometer to drop to 62.0. The unexpected advance lifted the index to its highest level since March of 2011.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX