European Stocks Up Slightly

By Tommy Stubbington 

        European stocks edged higher Thursday, with investors still nervously watching Greece's negotiations with its creditors.
        The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.1% in early trade. The index rose 1.5% on Wednesday after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras pitched a compromise to extend Greece's bailout.
        Still, Mr. Tsipras continued to call on Greeks to vote "no" in Sunday's referendum on creditors' previous demands. Opinion polls suggest the vote will be close.
        Shares continued to drift higher on Thursday, with investors also looking ahead to U.S. labor market data later in the day.
        "With the ongoing Greek events having caused investors severe headaches and given them reason not to trade, we expect another twitchy session with no great underlying flow to it," said Peter Chatwell, a strategist at Mizuho.
        In bond markets, safe-harbor German debt gave up some of its recent gains. The 10-year German bond yield climbed 0.04 percentage point to 0.85%. Yields rise as prices fall.
        The euro edged 0.2% higher against the dollar to $1.1067. The buck had gained on Wednesday on strong private sector jobs data.
        A stronger-than-expected nonfarm payrolls report on Thursday could bring forward investor expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate rise, further boosting the buck. Economists expect the U.S. economy added 233,000 jobs in June, according to a survey by The Wall Street Journal.
        In commodities, Brent crude oil rose 0.6% to $62.36 a barrel. Gold fell 0.4% to $1,164.70 a troy ounce.
        Write to Tommy Stubbington at tommy.stubbington@wsj.com
        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        July 02, 2015 03:48 ET (07:48 GMT)

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