European stocks barely budged Friday as U.S. economic data inspired some buying but investors appeared reluctant to hold onto stocks into the weekend, with next week's Federal Reserve policy meeting and midterm elections looming.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.02% to 265.96 on the last trading day of the month, for a second-straight win. The index was up 2.4% for the month.
In Asia, Japanese stocks ended at a seven-week low as disappointing economic data and a strong yen more than offset ...