Investing.com - European stock markets were down on Thursday, as banking shares dropped after France's Societe Generale posted poorer-than-expected results.
During European morning trade, France’s CAC 40 was down 0.21%; Germany's DAX fell 0.27%; Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.05%; and the EURO STOXX 50 slipped 0.13%.
Banks pared earlier gains as Societe Generale fell 4.43% in the wake of disappointment over the bank's the fourth-quarter figures.
The outlook for U.S. markets, meanwhile, was dim: Dow Jones Industrial Average futures indicated a fall of 0.2%, S&P 500 futures pointed to a decline of 0.24% and Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a drop of 0.08%.
Later Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor was set to publish the latest data on jobless claims, a key measure of the job market's health.