Investing.com - European stocks were mixed on Thursday, as investors focused on fresh corporate earnings reports as well and as political concerns in France persisted.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 added 0.17%, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.23%, while Germany’s DAX 30 inched up 0.06%.
Markets were jittery after French centrist Francois Bayrou said on Wednesday that he was offering an alliance with independent candidate Emmanuel Macron in May's presidential election.
The move could hinder far-right candidate Marine Le Pen's chances of winning.
Financial stocks were higher, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) rallied 1.00% and 1.28%, while Germany’s Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) advanced 0.76%.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) and Unicredit (MI:CRDI) gained 0.28% and 0.81% respectively, while Spanish bank Banco Santander (MC:SAN) rose 0.35%.
Elsewhere, Telefonica (MC:TEF) SA jumped 1.95% after the Spanish telecommunications giant said it swung into a profit in the fourth quarter.
On the downside, RWE AG (DE:RWEG) tumbled 1.40% as Germany’s biggest power producer said it wouldn’t pay a dividend for a second consecutive year after writing off billions due to declining electricity prices.
In London, FTSE 100 slipped 0.17%, led by easyJet (LON:EZJ), whose shares plunged 4.77% after the company announced that its membership programme Easyjet Plus will be increasing its fee from £170 to £199.
Centrica (LON:CNA) added to losses, as shares retreated 3.17% said it had made £384million worth of cost savings in 2016, a year during which it laid off more than 3,400 employees.
Meanwhile, mining srocks were mixed on the commodity-heavy index. Shares in Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) plummeted 3.65% and Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) lost 0.70%, while Glencore (LON:GLEN) rallied 1.18% after reporting a 48% increase in annual profit, thanks to higher commodity prices and strong trading results.
Financial stocks were mostly higher, as the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) rose 0.36% and Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) climbed 1.09%, while Barclays (LON:BARC) surged 2.96% after saying that full-year profits almost tripled to £3.2 billion in 2016.
HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) underperformed however, with shares declining 1.87%.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a steady open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.03% uptick, S&P 500 futures showed a 0.01% gain, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.03% rise.