Major European exchanges posted weak gains on Friday after receiving mixed signals from the US economy.
The London FTSE 100 index edged up 0.09 percent to close at 6,730.70 while in Frankfurt the DAX rose by the same percentage to finish at 8,041.26.
But in Paris investors were unsettled by a weaker-than-expected reading from the University of Michigan consumer confidence index, which fell to 82 points this month after 83.4 last month. The CAC 40 index consequently lost 0.32 percent to reach 5,843.95.
The Euro STOXX 50 index of leading eurozone shares added 0.05 percent to close at 4,476.02.
On the currency market the US dollar edged slightly higher against the euro here, but remained under heavy pressure and failed to take full advantage of stronger-than-expected data from the US.
US retail sales, a crucial motor of economic growth, rose 0.6 percent last month as US consumers boosted their spending, a government report showed on Friday.
The reading defied expectations as most economists were anticipating a tepid 0.2 percent rise in overall sales.
In another report the government said surging energy costs pushed up wholesale prices by a sharp 1.1 percent last month. But the core rate of inflation viewed as more important by economists remained tame.
The producer price index (PPI) showed a much steeper gain than the 0.5 percent increase expected on Wall Street, while the core rate, watched closely by economists since it excludes volatile food and energy components, was up just 0.1 percent, below the consensus forecast with a 0.2 percent increase.
"The news today is moderately bullish and has helped reverse the temporary selling pressures from yesterday," said Dick Green, a market analyst and president at Briefing.com.
"General Electric reported profits in line with expectations and said fourth quarter profits would be consistent with current Wall Street forecasts," Green said.
GE reported a third-quarter profit of US$5.54 billion, lifted in part by the sale of its plastics division to a Saudi Arabian group.
In London mortgage lender Northern Rock, which last month had to seek a bailout from the Bank of England, shot up 5.91 percent to ?2.7325 on news that Virgin Group, controlled by British billionaire Richard Branson, was spearheading an international consortium offering to rescue the troubled bank and to rebrand it under the Virgin name.
Elsewhere there were gains of 0.20 percent to 559.14 in Amsterdam, 1.07 percent to 15,261.3 in Madrid and 0.20 percent to 41,106 in Milan. There were declines of 0.23 percent to 9,197.48 on the Swiss Market Index and 0.06 percent to 4,532.06 in Brussels.
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