european stocks traded lower on friday just off record levels as investors waited for a monthly us jobs report and absorbed fresh data from the single currency region ahead of next week’s european central bank meeting the stoxx europe 600 index sxxp was down 01 to 47394 and was set to log a gain of 03 for the week on thursday the index closed 02 off its record close of 47583 reached on aug 13 the german dax dax was up 01 the french cac 40 index px1 fell 04 and the ftse 100 index ukx was up 02 the pound gbpusd and the euro eurusd were also unchanged against the dollar investors were waiting for another big us jobs report with economists forecasting 720000 new jobs in august a gain that could push the federal reserve to unwind its easymoney strategy and potentially shake up global equities meanwhile a final reading of the august eurozone ihs market service sector purchasing managers index was revised down to 590 from a preliminary 597 and below the 598 in july a reading above 50 indicates an expansion an activity while below this threshold signal elsewhere data showed eurozone retail sales falling in july after rising the previous two months as economic reopening effects faded and consumers began to spend more on services the data come ahead of next week’s meeting of the european central bank which comes against a backdrop of rising prices notably in germany “after an overly dovish summer ecb hawks are sending signals to the market they are pushing for some kind of exit strategy” said saxo bank’s chief investment officer steen jakobsen who explained in a note to clients how that may evolve next week “the ecb will mostly upgrade its staff macroeconomic projections and discuss the pace of bond purchases for the last quarter of this year which should be slower than previously given that the ecb had already declared the intent to “frontload” purchases earlier this year” he said read olaf scholz is now the betting market favorite to succeed angela merkel among stocks on the move ashmore group ashm was one of the stoxx 600’s worst performers the uk investment manager that focuses on emerging markets reported higher pretax profit for fiscal 2021 and expressed confidence about the year ahead but underlying earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortization fell short of consensus shares fell over 3 “in our view the investment case for ashmore today is little changed there is still significant potential to outperform in the coming years with improving longerterm investment performance a critical support” said stuart duncan and robert sage analysts at peel hunt who rate ashmore a buy among the gainers shares of allfunds group allfg  which reported a firsthalf rise in assets under management and revenues allfunds began trading as a public company in amsterdam in april french stocks were pressured by a nearly 1 drop in shares of luxury group lvmh moet hennessy louis vuitton lvmh and a similar fall for multinational aerospace company airbus air  german stocks were supported by a 17 rise for multinational conglomerate siemens sie  astrazeneca shares azn azn rose 06 after the pharmaceutical company said it had reached a deal with the european union for millions more covid19 vaccine doses by early 2022 ending months of litigation between the two over shortages that initially slowed the rollout of the region’s vaccination programs swedish automaker volvo volvb warned of a weaker second half citing shortages of semiconductor components and other materials that forced a temporary halt of production at facilities in several countries but the company said annual targets for continued growth in sales volume and revenue remained intact shares rose 16