CAC 40 
In Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.80% to 7,409.11 points. In Frankfurt, the Dax gained 0.92% and in London, the FTSE 100 rose by 0.83%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index ended up 1.03%, the FTSEurofirst 300 gained 1.05% and the Stoxx 600 was up 1.11%.
Over the week, however, the Stoxx 600 gave up 1.50% and the CAC 40 shed 1.18%.
European stock markets regained some momentum on Friday, putting an end to three consecutive sessions of decline at the end of a week packed with corporate results that weighed on investor morale on both sides of the Atlantic, particularly in the technology sector.
In addition to financial results, investors' attention was focused on the United States, with Americans set to go to the polls on Tuesday to elect their next president, in what promises to be a close election between Democratic vice-president Kamala Harris and Republican candidate and former president Donald Trump.
Although polls show them neck-and-neck, recent rises in Treasury yields and the dollar indicate, according to some traders, that markets are anticipating a Donald Trump victory instead.
The presidential election also comes on the eve of another important moment next week, the start of the November Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting, although its outcome will be much more predictable, with a 25 basis point rate cut seemingly a foregone conclusion.
Friday's release of US labor market data, which showed that job creation slowed sharply in October due to the effect of hurricanes and strikes, has not affected these bets for the time being, especially as the unemployment rate remains stable, reassuring investors of the resilience of the world's leading economy.
"Under normal circumstances, this report would be extremely damaging to the dollar, and the hypothesis of a 50 bp rate cut would suddenly have come back to the fore. But markets are rightly avoiding an overreaction," wrote Kyle Chapman, analyst at Ballinger Group, in a note.
VALUES
Societe Generale, which had already jumped on the stock market on Thursday after a better-than-expected third quarter, gained 3.3% after Morgan Stanley raised its recommendation on the stock, and posted the best performance of the CAC 40.
Viridien, for its part, lost 4% as the group specializing in underground exploration reported a 3% drop in sales for the first 9 months of the year.
Elsewhere in Europe, Lufthansa dropped 2.9% after HSBC lowered its recommendation from "buy" to "hold".
German meal kit company HelloFresh gained 4.6% on a recommendation upgrade by J.P. Morgan.
ON WALL STREET
The New York Stock Exchange rebounded on Friday after recent fears over the costs of investing in artificial intelligence (AI) weighed on technology-related stocks.
At European closing time, the Dow Jones was up 0.96%, the Standard & Poor's 500 0.77% and the Nasdaq Composite 1.11%.
Amazon, the American e-commerce giant, soared 6.6% after the publication of its better-than-expected quarterly results on Thursday evening, which reassured the markets.
INDICATORS OF THE DAY
In the U.S., the monthly report from the Labor Department on Friday showed the creation of 12,000 non-farm jobs in October, well below analysts' expectations, who were expecting an average of 113,000. The unemployment rate stood at 4.1% in October, stable compared with September, as expected.
The other major indicator of the day, the monthly survey by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), showed that manufacturing activity had unexpectedly deteriorated in October, reaching its lowest level for 15 months, while prices paid for inputs accelerated more than expected.
RATES
Sovereign yields were somewhat febrile on Friday, reacting sharply downwards to the US jobs report, which reinforced market expectations for Fed rate cuts, before easing towards the end of the session in Europe.
The yield on the ten-year German Bund gained 1 basis point to 2.4020%, while that on its two-year counterpart, which had risen the previous day on the back of higher-than-expected inflation data in the eurozone, fell by almost 4 basis points to 2.2770%.
In the UK, bond yields came under pressure this week, as the new Labour government's tax-and-spend budget raised market fears of a surge in inflation.
Two-year gilt yields thus gained 26 basis points over the week and ahead of the Bank of England meeting, which is expected to cut rates by 25 basis points next Thursday.
In the US, the yield on ten-year Treasuries, now focused on rising input prices and the risks associated with the US presidential election, turned upwards, gaining around 5 basis points to 4.3371%. The yield on the two-year bond gained 0.6 basis points to 4.1723%.
CHANGES
The dollar gained 0.19% against a basket of benchmark currencies, as caution prevailed ahead of the elections, while the euro lost 0.3% to $1.0850.
OIL
Oil prices rose on Friday, touching their highest level in a week, following a report by the US website Axios that Iran was preparing a retaliatory strike against Israel from Iraq in the next few days.
Brent crude gained 0.84% to $73.42 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) advanced 0.85% to $69.85.
(Written by Diana Mandiá)
by Diana Mandia
