European stocks stable

Europe's main stock markets ended mixed on Thursday with data underscoring the gradual economic recovery is underway in the United States failing to animate light pre-holiday trading. In London the FTSE 100 index of leading shares rose 0.21 percent to 5,996.07 points, while in Paris the CAC 40 slipped 0.21 percent to 3,911.32 points.
In Frankfurt the DAX dipped 0.15 percent to 7,057.69 points in its final trading session before the Christmas holiday. "European markets have been becalmed today despite attempts to push higher in early trade, and US economic data has done nothing to change the overall listless price action," said Michael Hewson, market analyst at CMC Markets.
A Santa rally continued in London, with market coming within a whisker of the psychological 6,000-points level it has not breached since June 2008. "The UK index very nearly breached the psychologically important 6,000 level as bull traders were able to mark the card amid low volumes," noted equities head Giles Watts at City Index.
Elsewhere in Europe, Amsterdam closed up 0.01 percent, Brussels gained 0.17 percent, Milan rose 0.20 percent, and Swiss stocks climbed 0.70 percent. Meanwhile shares in Lisbon dropped 0.23 percent and by 0.75 percent in Madrid. The release of a pile of data underscoring that a gradual economic recovery is underway in the United States failed to move US stock prices.
Wall Street was mixed at midday on the last day of trading before Christmas, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average drifting up 0.11 percent to 11,572.28 points. The S&P 500 index, a broader measure of the market, slipped 0.14 percent to 1,257.12 points and the tech-rich Nasdaq dipped 0.19 percent to 2,666.47 points. "Stocks continue to trade listlessly in the early going. Even data has done little to motivate market participants," said analysts at Briefing.com. New jobless claims in the United States remained close to their to lowest levels of the year last week, with new benefits seekers dropping by 3,000 to 420,000, according to Labour Department figures.
Data also showed US consumers earned and spent more in November, boosting expectations for a strong holiday shopping season as consumers become more aggressive in their spending. Factory orders fell for the second straight month in November by 1.3 percent, but excluding the volatile transportation sector, orders for manufactured goods rose more than expected, by 2.4 percent.
"November's durable goods report was an improvement from last month, but still suggests that the manufacturing expansion is slowing," said Michael Bratus of Moody's Analytics. And sales of new homes in the United States in November rose 5.5 percent to 290,000 from October, data showed, reaffirming that the struggling housing market which was at the heart of the 2008 crisis was slowly recovering. Asian markets were also mixed on Thursday with traders winding down for the holidays while an upgrade of US economic growth provided some cheer. The British and French markets will reopen on Friday for a half-day Christmas Eve session.