European stocks down after US job data

ANKARA

European stocks ended Friday in negative territory as global investors digest September’s job data, which increased the expectations that aggressive interest rate hikes would continue.

The US economy added 263,000 jobs in September, above the market estimate, while the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 3.5%, according to the Labor Department.

The market expectation for nonfarm payrolls was a 250,000 hike in September.

The benchmark index STOXX Europe 600 depreciated 1.18% to 391.67 points.

The UK’s FTSE 100 index decreased 0.09% to 6,991.09 points, while Germany’s DAX 30 was off 1.59% to 12,273 points.

France’s CAC 40 index fell 1.17% to 5,866.94 points and in Italy, the FTSE MIB 30 index declined 1.13% to 20,901.56 points.