European shares fall after JPMorgan results

European shares turned negative by midday on Friday, reversing a three-session gaining run, pressured by weakness in banks as investors sentiment soured after U.S. bank JPMorgan reported earnings.

By 1241 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.2 percent at 1,061.63 points.

Banks took the most points off the index, with Barclays, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank falling 0.6 to 1.1 percent.

JPMorgan posted net income of $3.3 billion, or $0.74 per share on revenue of $25.2 billion in the fourth-quarter

"The results are not too bad, with a strong tier one ratio and a very good increase in revenue from investment banking and asset management, but the main point here is the bad trend on credit card losses which give us some indication on the real level of consumer delinquency in the U.S.," said David Thebault, head of quantitative sales trading at global equities in Paris.

Investors had earlier drawn support from strong earnings from Intel Corp overnight, as the chipmaker's fourth-quarter results roared past Wall Street forecasts and it gave a bullish margin outlook

Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100, France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX were off between 0.1 and 0.8 percent.

CARREFOUR RISES

On the upside, Carrefour rose 3.1 percent, after the world's second-largest retailer met expectations for fourth-quarter sales and said it will hit profit targets for the year just ended.

Other retailers to gain included UK supermarkets Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrison which were up 0.2 to 1.1 percent.

Among individual movers, hedge fund firm Man Group fell 5.7 percent on Friday after it said assets under management fell 4 percent to $42.4 billion in the three months to December due to losses from its underperforming flagship fund AHL and client outflows.

Earlier, data showed that more expensive fuel drove euro zone consumer prices higher in December as expected, but core inflation remained flat, indicating that any headline price rises will be subdued over the coming months.