By around 10:25 a.m., the CAC40 was up about 0.5%, hovering near the 8,300-point mark, while the pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.4%, following a flat close for the American S&P 500 the previous day.

As usual, market participants will be closely watching the U.S. jobs data at 2:30 p.m., which could greatly influence market expectations regarding the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.

With hiring rates at their lowest in 15 years and layoffs remaining very low, the labor market remains in a delicate balance—a situation expected to be reflected in the data from the Department of Labor.

Consensus forecasts call for an average of 60,000 non-farm job creations in December, roughly in line with November's figure (64,000), with the unemployment rate expected to ease to 4.5% after rising to 4.6% the previous month.

"What the market wants to know is whether employment is cooling enough for the Fed to adopt a more accommodative stance, or if it remains too strong for the central bank to loosen its grip on rates," explains Linh Tran at XS.com.

Also on the economic calendar, investors will examine eurozone retail sales for November at 11:00 a.m., followed by the University of Michigan's U.S. consumer sentiment index at 4:00 p.m.

Meanwhile, investors have digested data from Germany, notably a drop in the trade surplus to €13.1 billion and a 0.8% increase in industrial production in November.

"However, the underlying trend is that production continues to move sideways at a low level, and there is no sign of a sustainable recovery," cautions Commerzbank, which also highlights weak exports.

In France, also for November, Insee reported near-stagnation in industrial production (-0.1%) and a 0.3% drop in household spending on goods.

Among individual stocks, L'Oréal and BNP Paribas (each up 4%) are among the top performers in the SBF 120, supported by rating upgrades from UBS and JP Morgan, while Sartorius Stedim fell 3% following a downgrade by RBC.

Elsewhere in Europe, Glencore jumped more than 8% while Rio Tinto lost 2%, after the two companies confirmed they are in talks over a potential takeover—a move that could create the world's largest mining group.