European Markets Pulled Back On Euro Strength

(RTTNews) - The European markets fluctuated between small gains and losses during Friday's session, but ended the day in the red. Markets were under pressure as the Euro gained ground against the U.S. dollar following reports that Special Counsel Robert Mueller issued subpoenas to over a dozen top Trump campaign officials in mid-October, calling for documents and emails related to Russia.

Eurozone's robust economic recovery is still supported by the massive monetary stimulus that would help inflation to return to target, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Friday.

"A key motor of the recovery remains the very favourable financing conditions facing firms and households, which are in turn heavily contingent on our policy measures," Draghi said in a speech in Frankfurt.

"An ample degree of monetary stimulus remains necessary for underlying inflation pressures to build up and support headline inflation over the medium term."

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index weakened by 0.30 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased 0.48 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 0.15 percent.

The DAX of Germany dropped 0.41 percent and the CAC 40 of France fell 0.32 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 0.08 percent, but the SMI of Switzerland finished higher by 0.40 percent.

In Frankfurt, Deutsche Börse rallied 1.43 percent after it hired UniCredit's Germany chief as its new CEO.

Fresenius dropped 5.34 percent after UBS downgraded its rating on the stock to "Sell" from "Neutral."

In Paris, transportation company Bollore advanced 3.59 percent and media group Vivendi added 4.39 percent after solid third-quarter results.

Catering group Elior plunged 18.17 percent after a profit warning.

In London, builder and outsourcing group Carillion tumbled 48.19 percent after another profit warning while Sky Plc shares jumped 4.1 percent on speculation of takeover interest.

Kier Group rose 2.85 percent. The property services firm said it remains on course to deliver double digit profit growth in the current year and achieve Vision 2020 targets.

United Utilities Group lost 4.37 percent after HSBC downgraded its rating on the stock to "Hold" from "Buy."

The euro area current account surplus rose to a record high in September, figures from the European Central Bank showed Friday. The seasonally adjusted current account surplus grew to EUR 37.8 billion in September from EUR 34.5 billion in August.

Eurozone construction output increased for the first time in three months in September, though slightly, figures from Eurostat showed Friday. Construction output rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent month-over-month in September, after remaining flat in August, which was revised from a 0.2 percent fall reported earlier.

New residential construction in the U.S. jumped by much more than expected in the month of October, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Friday. The report said housing starts spiked by 13.7 percent to an annual rate of 1.290 million in October from a revised 1.135 million in September.

Economists had expected housing starts to climb to an annual rate of 1.185 million from the 1.127 million originally reported for the previous month.

The Commerce Department said building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, also surged up by 5.9 percent to a rate of 1.297 million in October from a revised 1.225 million in September. Building permits had been expected to rise to a rate of 1.247 million from the 1.215 million originally reported for the previous month.