Europe: Stocks Close Lower.

European stocks closed slightly lower for a second session on Friday on fresh pressure from heavyweight banks, underperforming North American counterparts after a tame US inflation print consolidated bets of multiple rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year. The Eurozone's STOXX 50 fell 0.4% to 5,987 and the pan-European STOXX 600 eased 0.1% to 617, a second session of marginal losses since reaching its record high on Wednesday. UniCredit, Deutsche Bank, and BBVA dropped between 4% and 3.5%. In the meantime, L'Oreal fell 5% after its earnings report showed some softness in year-end sales. In turn, Hermes fell slightly despite beating earnings expectations. Additionally, Safran surged 8.3% after raising revenues and earnings forecasts for the year. On the data front, Eurozone employment grew 0.3% to extend the steady, but slow, job growth in the currency bloc, maintaining the outlook of steady rates by the ECB in the near term.