European stock markets mid session: stocks traded lower on speculation that the Fed will delay its further interest rate hikes

Stock indices traded lower on speculation that the Fed will delay its further interest rate hikes after Friday's release of the U.S. labour market data. According to the U.S. Labor Department, the U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs in January, missing expectations for a rise of 190,000 jobs, after a gain of 262,000 jobs in December.

Job creation slowed in January. That could mean that the Fed might delay its further interest rate hikes. The Fed hiked its interest rates by a 0.25% to between 0.25% and 0.50% in December.

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 4.9% in January from 5.0% in December. It was the lowest level since February 2008. Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged at 5.0%.

Average hourly earnings climbed 0.5% in January, exceeding forecasts of a 0.3% gain, after a flat reading in December.

Meanwhile, the economic data from Eurozone was weak. Market research group Sentix released its investor confidence index for the Eurozone on Monday. The index slid to 6.0 in February from 9.6 in January. It was the lowest level since April 2015.

A reading above 0.0 indicates optimism, below indicates pessimism.

"Although the values for Asia ex Japan recover something, this month results do not shape a fundamentally new image. In particular, the loss of momentum in Germany and the United States weighs heavily and stresses that the global economy is now in a very fragile state," Sentix said in its statement.

Current figures:

Name Price Change Change %

FTSE 100 5,750.18 -97.88 -1.67 %

DAX 9,051.85 -234.38 -2.52 %

CAC 40 4,103.4 -97.27 -2.32 %