BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French stocks were modestly higher on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump said that trade talks with China were 'moving right along', and that the two sides are having very major discussions'.
Asked whether he will go ahead with additional tariffs in less than two weeks, Trump said, 'We're not discussing that.'
Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday told reporters that trade talks with China are on track, but the United States is not bound to a deadline.
The focus shifted to U.S. jobs data that will be out later in the day after recent data sent mixed signals about the state of the world's largest economy.
Closer home, investors shrugged off data from Germany showing that industrial production in Europe's largest economy declined unexpectedly in October.
Industrial production decreased 1.7 percent on a monthly basis in October, bigger than the revised 0.6 percent fall logged in September. Economists had forecast output to recover 0.1 percent.
The benchmark CAC 40 was up 23 points, or 0.39 percent, at 5,825 after finishing marginally higher the previous day.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX