12:13 PM EST, 01/03/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The European stock markets closed mostly lower in Friday trading as The Stoxx Europe fell 0.49%, Germany's DAX dropped 0.58%, the FTSE in London was down 0.44%, France's CAC shed 1.51%, while the Swiss Market Index gained 0.20%.

In Germany, the number of residents employed in the country rose slightly by 24,000 people in November to 46.1 million people, according to preliminary calculations by the Federal Statistical Office. It is the second straight month employment has risen following declines in the four months prior to October.

And in corporate news, Stellantis shares closed 3.5% lower in Paris after some of its electric vehicles and hybrids lost access to US tax credits under new rules implemented this week, Bloomberg reported. Meanwhile, Stellantis' production in Italy tumbled 37% last year amid a nationwide decline in car manufacturing, according to FIM-CISL union figures cited Friday by Reuters. Stellantis did not immediately reply to MT Newswires' requests for comment.

GSK said Friday that the China National Medical Products Administration has approved Nucala, or mepolizumab, as an add-on therapy with intranasal corticosteroids to treat adult patients with inadequately controlled chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps. Shares of the British pharmaceutical company closed 1.6% lower in London.

Shares of European alcohol beverage makers Anheuser-Busch InBev and Diageo fell Friday after US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released an advisory outlining a direct link between alcohol consumption and an increased risk of cancer and called for cancer warnings on alcoholic drinks. Anheuser-Busch InBev shares closed 2.6% lower in Brussels, while Diageo's stock fell 3.7% in London.

Luxury goods stocks were falling in Friday trading as Kering and Louis Vuitton fell 4.9% and 3.8% respectively in Paris, followed by Hermes International and Pernod Ricard, which lost 2.8% and 3.1% respectively. Meanwhile, Burberry Group shares were down 1.6% in London.