European shares remained broadly flat yesterday afternoon, with weak banks HBOS and Barclays balancing insurer Aviva, which was up on strong profit growth, a robust outlook and higher dividends.
By 1435 GMT, the FTSE Eurotop 300 index of pan European blue chips had nudged 0.01 per cent higher at 1,002.8 points, while the narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index had slipped 0.1 per cent to 2,862.
Vivendi Universal was a bright spot, up 4.3 per cent on fresh talk that the French conglomerate could be a bid target for mobile phone giant Vodafone in a bid to wrest control of its telecoms unit SFR.
Other standout risers included French heavy engineering firm Alstom and Spain's CAF, up seven and six per cent, respectively, after they jointly won train contracts worth €930 million.
But a 44-per cent dip in first-half net profit sent Brambles, the world's biggest supplier of freight pallets, eight per cent lower.
Markets were seized by doubts over the strength and sustainability of the economic recovery after unexpectedly weak data in the United States and Germany, and the end of the earnings season left markets with little news to trade on.
"One set of data doesn't make a trend, and it is too soon to worry about a potential failure on the consumer's side in the current context of recovery," said economist Valerie Plagnol from CIC Securities.
"Exacerbated worries about jobs appear just as the economy is starting to create jobs, and could be explained by the fact that the issue is becoming a central theme in the US electoral campaign."
Investors were waiting for US Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's testimony on the economy before the US House Budget Committee at 1500 GMT.
Across Europe, Frankfurt's DAX shed 0.4 per cent, Paris's CAC 40 was 0.1 per cent higher, and the Swiss SMI had lost 0.5 per cent. London's FTSE was down 0.2 per cent, weighed by banks.
A lacklustre start in New York did not help European markets. The Dow Jones industrial average was flat in early dealings, while the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.3 per cent.
Barclays shed three percent as it went ex-dividend, while HBOS slipped three per cent, despite results that came towards the top of expectations, as these failed to shine in comparison with recent bumper results from Royal Bank of Scotland.
But shares in Aviva gained 5.5 per cent as Britain's largest insurer said its profit rise, fuelled by price increases and improved efficiency, was sustainable. It raised its dividend five percent to underline the point.