LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - European stocks firmed slightly and prospects for a positive start on Wall Street grew on Friday after U.S. jobs data failed to scare investors.
The U.S. Labor Department said U.S employers slashed 663,000 jobs in March, a figure that was worse than expected but which did not provide a huge negative surprise.
"It gives the market a sense that we dodged a bullet in the very, very near term. It's positive in that it wasn't a blowout number," said Peter Kenny, managing director of Knight Equity Markets in New Jersey.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 was up 0.1 percent and the dollar was steady against a basket of major currencies.