JP Morgan earnings fail to lift markets

LONDON (AP) -- Upbeat earnings from JP Morgan Chase & Co. did little to lift the mood in markets Friday as stocks continued to shed some of the gains made the previous day, when U.S. jobs figures came in stronger than expected.

JP Morgan, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, reported a record quarterly profit of $5.7 billion for the July-to-September period, up 34 percent from the same period a year ago. Earnings were $1.40 per share, far exceeding the $1.21 consensus in the markets.

But the bank's results had little impact in the markets, which remained sluggish after the sharp gains made Thursday, when a big fall in U.S. jobless claims last week boosted sentiment. The figures also helped investors look past another downgrade of Spain's debt.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.2 percent at 5,819 while Germany's DAX fell the same rate to 7,269. The CAC-40 in France was also 0.2 percent lower at 3,406.

Wall Street was poised for a steady open, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures up 0.2 percent.

Trading was steady in other markets too, with the euro up 0.3 percent at $1.2970 and the benchmark oil price 3 cents higher at $92.10 a barrel.

Earlier in Asia, markets were mixed by the close.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended a bad week with another 0.2 percent decline to 8,534.12. Telephone company Softbank led the way lower after it plunged 16.9 percent on news that it is in talks to take a substantial stake in U.S. carrier Sprint Nextel Corp.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.7 percent to 21,136.43 and South Korea's Kospi was flat at 1,933.26.