By Simon Kennedy
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets held broadly steady in early trading Friday as investors remained on the sidelines after two days of big gains and ahead of the release of key payrolls figures in the U.S. Among stocks in focus, French retailer Carrefour (FR:CA 33.38, -0.46, -1.35%) dropped 1.4% after a broker downgrade, while the U.K.'s Premier Foods (UK:PFD 18.20, -0.36, -1.94%) rose 2.5% after the company said it's in advanced talks with two potential buyers for one of its divisions. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX 5,753, -14.59, -0.25%) slipped 0.1% to 5,763.38, the French CAC 40 index (FR:PX1 3,747, -0.22, -0.01%) rose 0.1% to 3,750.20 and the German DAX 30 index (DX:DAX 6,946, -11.59, -0.17%) fell 0.1% to 6,952.99. |
