European shares slipped on Friday, Sept. 4, ahead of the August U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, while Volkswagen surged after announcing a transformation plan involving 50,000 job cuts. The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.1% to 648.67 points by 0710 GMT. Germany's DAX rose 0.1%, London's FTSE declined 0.1% and France's CAC 40 lost 0.2%. Volkswagen gained 6% after its supervisory board reached a turnaround agreement that avoided an escalation with unions and shareholder Lower Saxony, lifting the broader European autos index 1.1%. Investors were looking to the U.S. employment data for clues about the Federal Reserve's policy path. Oil prices rose as the latest escalation in the Middle East conflict raised concerns about renewed inflationary pressure, contributing to selloffs in global equity and bond markets in recent weeks. Brent crude traded around $96 per barrel and was on course for its steepest weekly gain since mid-July. Economically sensitive chemical and banking shares each fell almost 1%, weighing on Europe's main stock index.