BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French stocks declined on Thursday as stimulus talks in Washington remained deadlocked and the United States stepped up pressure on Germany and France with extra tariffs on some of their goods.
Meanwhile, the French employment rate declined drastically in the second quarter to the lowest since early 2017 as the lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus dampened job creation, statistical office Insee said.
The employment rate fell 1.6 points to 64.4 percent in the second quarter, the lowest since 2017. Employment among youth logged a marked fall of 2.9 points to reach 26.6 percent, which was the lowest since the records began in 1975.
The jobless rate fell to 7.1 percent in the second quarter from 7.8 percent in the first quarter as the number of people looking for work decreased during the period of lockdown.
Investors await the latest U.S. jobless claims data later in the day for further direction after Federal Reserve speakers sounded more urgent about the need to protect a nascent recovery.
The benchmark CAC 40 was down 6 points, or 0.1 percent, at 5,067 after gaining 0.9 percent the previous day.
Planemaker Airbus declined 1.5 percent. The company said it regretted a U.S. decision to keep in place 15 percent tariff on its aircraft despite European Union actions to comply with World Trade Organization rulings.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX