Investing.com - European stocks were mostly lower on Friday, as markets digested comments by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi saying that the bank's quantitative easing program will continue until September 2016, or beyond if necessary.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 slipped 0.14%, France’s CAC 40 fell 0.23%, while Germany’s DAX 30 inched up 0.03%.
European equities found support after Draghi confirmed on Thursday that the ECB will begin purchasing euro zone government bonds on March 9 under its new quantitative easing program.
The combined asset purchases will amount to €60 billion per month and are expected to run until September 2016, or until the ECB sees that inflation is on a “sustained path” to its target of close to, but below, 2% in the medium term.
In addition, the ECB raised its growth forecast for this year to 1.5% from 1.0% previously, but it cut its inflation forecast for 2015, saying it now expects inflation to be flat, down from 0.7% previously.
Earlier Friday, official data showed that German industrial production rose 0.6% in January, exceeding expectations for a 0.5% gain. December's figure was revised to a 1.0% increase from a previously estimated 0.1% uptick.
Financial stocks were mixed, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PARIS:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PARIS:SOGN) slid 0.35% and 0.33%, while Deutsche Bank (XETRA:DBKGn) rose 0.28% and Commerzbank (XETRA:CBKG) declined 0.59% in Germany
Among peripheral lenders, Unicredit (MILAN:CRDI) slid 0.29% and Intesa Sanpaolo (MILAN:ISP) added 0.10% in Italy, while Banco Santander (MADRID:SAN) dipped 0.06% and BBVA (MADRID:BBVA) edged up 0.18% in Spain.
Elsewhere, SCOR SE (PARIS:SCOR) rallied 1.95% following reports Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Holdings Inc. plans to buy a 15% stake in the French reinsurer.
In London, commodity-heavy FTSE 100 edged down 0.16%, weighed by losses in the mining sector.
Shares in Glencore Xstrata (LONDON:GLEN) lost 0.65% and Rio Tinto (LONDON:RIO) retreated 0.67%, while Anglo American (LONDON:AAL) and Fresnillo (LONDON:FRES) plummeted 1.35% and 1.36% respectively.
In the financial sector, stocks were mixed. HSBC Holdings (LONDON:HSBA) edged up 0.08% and Lloyds Banking (LONDON:LLOY) rose 0.33%, while Barclays (LONDON:BARC) fell 0.11% and the Royal Bank of Scotland (LONDON:RBS) slumped 0.69%.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a steady open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.01% uptick, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.01% dip, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.06% gain.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the closely watched government report on nonfarm payrolls, the unemployment rate and average earnings.