(Updates at 1524 GMT)

By Harry Robertson

LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Euro zone bond yields were

mixed on Thursday, after falling in the previous two sessions,

as investors waited for more data on the health of the U.S. jobs

market.

Yields have slid this week as markets have fretted about the

August U.S. employment report, due on Friday, and reacted to

figures on Wednesday showing American job openings fell to their

lowest level in 3-1/2 years in July.

It was a volatile session on Thursday as investors digested

more data that showed U.S. private payrolls increased less than

expected in August but U.S. services sector activity was steady.

Germany's two-year bond yield, which is sensitive

to European Central Bank rate expectations, fell to 2.288% on

Thursday, its lowest since a previous bout of economic worries

sent yields tumbling on Aug. 5. It was last down marginally at

2.299%.

Investors have nudged up their bets on U.S. and European

interest rate cuts this week, helping pull down bond yields,

while also moving into the safety of government debt as stocks

have stumbled.

Markets have been on edge about Friday's U.S. non-farm

payrolls report since weaker than expected July numbers helped

spark a rout in stocks, although that later reversed.

The German 10-year bond yield, the benchmark for

the euro zone, fell to 2.192% earlier, its lowest since Aug. 22.

It was last slightly lower at 2.215%. Yields fall as prices

rise, and vice versa.

"In the coming months it will be primarily the U.S. data

that will move the euro zone bond market and even the ECB

expectations," said Jussi Hiljanen, rates strategist at lender

SEB.

European data did little to move euro zone markets, which

are overwhelmingly focused on the U.S. economy and the Federal

Reserve, given the force they exert over global growth.

German industrial orders unexpectedly rose in July, although

the increase was flattered by some large orders, data showed on

Thursday. Separate data showed euro zone retail sales slipped

very slightly in July.

France's 10-year bond yield dipped to 2.914%,

having dropped to as low as 2.899% earlier in the session.

French President Emmanuel Macron appointed Michel Barnier,

the EU's former Brexit negotiator, as his new prime minister,

tasking him with unifying France and ending the political

paralysis that followed an inconclusive snap election.

"It's an important milestone but there is still no majority

that is able to push through very decisive decisions for reforms

in the French government," said Michiel Tukker, senior European

rates strategist at ING.

The risk premium investors demand to hold French debt over

Germany's fell slightly to about 70 basis points (bps), at one

point touching its lowest since Aug. 27.

It briefly surged in June to 85 bps, its highest since 2012,

following Macron's decision to call a shock snap election.