European Stocks Stall As Oil Spikes, BoE Hints At Rate Hikes

(RTTNews) - European stocks were little changed on Friday, once again stalling near 6-year highs as crude oil prices spiked to levels not seen since last year.

Talk of an interest rate hike from the Bank of England weighed heavily on UK stocks, and airlines came under heavy pressure due to oil's rise.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said the interest rates in the U.K. could rise sooner than investors expect.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks was virtually flat at 3,284.57, posting a weekly loss of 0.29 percent.

The German DAX slipped 0.26 percent, the CAC of France lost 0.24 percent, and the FTSE of the UK dropped 0.95 percent.

Among airlines, EasyJet dropped 3 percent, as did Lufthansa.

Gerry Weber, which reported first half results, dropped 3.2 percent.

Schneider Electric fell 1 percent. Morgan Stanley cut the stock to ''Equalweight'' from ''Overweight.''

Michelin is losing 2.2 percent and Axa is sliding 2.1 percent.

Industrial equipment rental firm Ashtead dropped 3.4 percent.

In London, Barratt Developments fell 6 percent after Britain's finance minister George Osborne said that in a bid to limit risk to financial stability from the housing market, he would give the apex bank more power to curb mortgage lending.

Further, German consumer prices rose year-over-year in May confirming the preliminary estimates, final figures from Destatis showed.

Eurozone employment grew for the second straight quarter in the first three months of the year, Eurostat said. The number of employed rose 0.1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2013, when there was a similar gain.

China's industrial production and retail sales growth accelerated in May, suggesting that measures adopted by the government to kick start the recovery finally started to bear fruits.

Industrial production grew at a pace of 8.8 percent year-on-year in May, following April's 8.7 percent increase, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. The rate came in line with economists' expectations.

At the same time, retail sales advanced by a more-than-expected 12.5 percent annually in May, faster than the 11.9 percent rise seen a month ago. Sales were expected to rise by 12.1 percent.