Europe afternoon: Stocks drifting lower

LONDON (ShareCast) - After sitting around, for the most part, waiting for the US non-farm payrolls figures to come out and tell them which way to jump, investors are not much wiser after the US jobs data came in a little bit worse than expected. The market had been expecting 95,000 non-farm jobs to be added but is having to make do with a figure of 80,000. The US unemployment rate fell to a six-month low of 9.0% from 9.1% in September. Markets have moved little on the news. The CAC is down 9 points at 3,186 in Paris while the DAX (Xetra: ^GDAXI - news) is off 56 points at 6,077 in Frankfurt. The IBEX 35 index in Madrid is 20 points firmer at 8,733. In other economic news, Grman factory orders fell 4.3% in September, on a seasonally and inflation adjusted basis, surprising analysts, who had expected a 0.1% increase. Network (BSE: NETWORK.BO - news) equipment giant Alcatel (Paris: FR0000130007 - news) -Lucent is a major drag on the CAC (Frankfurt: 924169 - news) index after disappointing third quarter figures. Revenue fell 6.8% from a year earlier to €3.8bn and the company warned that turnover in the fourth quarter is likely to be lower than previously envisaged. Guidance on operating margin was also lowered, with the company predicting the full-year margin will be around 4% of sales. In Germany, Commerzbank (Other OTC: CRZBF.PK - news) is the big faller after its third quarter numbers came up short. The bank made a net loss of €687m versus a profit of €113m a year earlier, as it took a €798m hit on the value of the Greek sovereign bonds it has on its books. Deutsche Lufthansa (Xetra: 823212 - news) and International Airlines Group (IAG) are both lower after the pair agreed, in principle, for ownership of Lufthansa subsidiary BMI to pass to IAG. IAG said revenue in the third quarter of 2011 rose 2.2% to €4,490m from €4,392m the year before, but warned that high fuel costs continue to have a significant impact on our business. Underlying operating profit was down by just over a third to €351m from €528m the year before, while underlying profit before tax fell 34.4% to €316m from €482m last year. French cement giant Lafarge (Paris: FR0000120537 - news) has announced a plan to save €500m next year while elevated material costs weighed on third quarter results. The news cheered investors, who propelled the stock to the top of the CAC leader-board. Net (Frankfurt: A0Z22E - news) income fell 10% to €336m while operating profit fell 9% to €750m. Sales rose 1% to €4.21bn, driven by solid sales in emerging markets. CAC 40 (Paris: ^FCHI - news) - Risers Lafarge (LG (KSE: 003550.KS - news) ) € 30.24 +2.77% BNP Paribas (Other OTC: BNPQF.PK - news) (BNP (Paris: FR0000131104 - news) ) € 32.76 +2.65% Essilor International (EI) € 53.04 +1.38% Natixis SA (KN) € 2.23 +1.37% France Telecom (Paris: FR0000133308 - news) (FTE) € 12.98 +1.13% Societe Generale (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) (GLE) € 18.83 +1.13% Credit Agricole (Milan: ACA.MI - news) (ACA) € 5.34 +1.08% ArcelorMittal SA (MT) € 14.85 +0.99% Danone (Milan: DNN.MI - news) (BN) € 49.35 +0.79% Unibail-Rodamco (UL) € 139.70 +0.54% CAC 40 - Fallers Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) € 1.74 -13.67% Accor (Hamburg: ACR.HM - news) (AC) € 22.67 -3.59% EDF (Stuttgart: A0HG6A - news) (EDF (Paris: FR0010242511 - news) ) € 21.44 -1.47% Michelin (Euronext: ML.NX - news) (ML) € 51.12 -1.46% Peugeot (Hamburg: PEU.HM - news) (UG) € 15.06 -1.28% PPR (TLO: PPR.TI - news) (PP) € 109.15 -1.27% Vallourec (Stuttgart: 852809 - news) (VK) € 46.13 -1.25% LVMH (MC) € 116.65 -1.23% Veolia Environnement (VIE) € 10.19 -1.12% Publicis Groupe Sa (PUB) € 35.88 -1.10% -- jh