Investors Downbeat on European Markets

By Josie Cox and Tommy Stubbington 

        European stocks ended the week on a downbeat note despite a blockbuster monthly jobs report from the U.S., as the deepening crisis in Ukraine kept investors on the defensive.
        The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.4%.
        Ukraine launched a military operation Friday to regain control of the pro-Russian separatist stronghold of Slovyansk, meeting stiff resistance from militants who managed to shoot down at least one helicopter.
        Frankfurt's DAX index--highly sensitive to events in Ukraine because of Germany's strong trade and energy ties with Eastern Europe and Russia--took a late dive, closing 0.5% lower.
        The U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.2%, boosted by a surge in net profit in the first quarter of the year at Royal Bank of Scotland, while France's CAC-40 was down 0.7% with BNP Paribas shares weighing following a downgrade from Credit Suisse to neutral from outperform.
        Investors looked for traditional safe retreats, with gold climbing 1.3% to $1,301.30 an ounce.
        The moves followed after markets had shrugged off news that the U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs in April, the fastest pace in more than two years and well above economists' median forecast of 215,000.
        Wall Street shares were marginally lower as European markets closed.
        In currency markets, the dollar surged after the jobs report, but lost ground to the yen as Ukraine concerns moved to the fore once more.
        "It's a strong number for the economy as a whole but it's not necessarily great for the market. If repeated again next month, the Federal Reserve would certainly have to start thinking about tightening sooner than initially expected. The ideal scenario for bond and equity markets would have been a slightly below consensus print," said Gary Jenkins, a credit strategist at LNG Capital.
        Nonetheless, he said he wasn't surprised that the market's reaction to the print was relatively muted.
        "It's just one data point so there's definitely a sense of wait-and-see."
        Russian assets proved more resilient to the flare-up in Ukraine, with Moscow's MICEX stock index falling 0.1%, while the ruble weakened 0.6% against the dollar.
        Write to Josie Cox at josie.cox@wsj.com and Tommy Stubbington at tommy.stubbington@wsj.com
        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        May 02, 2014 12:02 ET (16:02 GMT)