European stock wobbled into the close on Thursday, as investors digested a raft of earnings reports and better-than-expected growth data from the U.K. The pan-European benchmark swung between small gains and losses throughout the day and had opened firmly lower after a downbeat session in Asia. China said industrial profits fell to 7.7% year-over-year growth in September, a sharp slowdown from the 19.5% recorded the month before.

U.S. stocks closed lower Thursday, after a session of fluctuating between slight gains and losses, as a jump in bond yields prompted a selloff in defensive sectors such as real estate while investors sifted through mixed earnings results and deal news. "The market is uneven because earnings have been uneven, investors really are looking at them on a company by company basis," said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management. "When you roll it all up it doesn't amount to much in moving the market."

Asian markets were mixed by mid-morning Friday as investors parsed a deluge of economic data and corporate earnings. Global bond yields received a boost overnight fromstronger-than-expected U.K. GDP data and comments from the Bank of Japan's that it may not increase its quantitative easing program.