Europe midday: Stocks slightly lower ahead of monthly US jobs report

Stocks were lower ahead of the release of the all-important monthly US jobs report later in the day and despite solid readings on industrial output in France and Germany.

As of 1205 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was lower by 0.36% or 1.37 points to 379.06, while the Dax was down 0.20% or 24.59 points to 12,356.03 and the Cac-40 was off by 0.34% or 16.66 points to 5,135.74.

Euro/dollar was drifting lower by 0.1% to 1.1412.

In parallel, front month Brent crude futures were slipping 3.0% to $46.69 a barrel on the ICE.

German industrial production jumped by 1.2% month-on-month in May, surpassing forecasts for a rise of 0.2%.

That prompted Claus Vistesen at Capital Economics to tell clients: "In short, almost no matter happened in June, these data suggest that the German economy fired on all cylinders in the first six months of the year, a story supported by the significant upward revision to the Q1 numbers."

During that same month, French industrial production rose by 1.9% on the month (consensus: 0.6%), pushing the year-on-year rate of growth from 0.1% to 3.2%.

On the corporate front, shares in budget carrier Easyjet gained altitude on the heels of an upgrade out of Credit Suisse from 'neutral' to 'outperform'.

Carrefour on the other hand was on the backfoot as analysts questioned the retailer's decision to cut prices in order to protect market share.