LONDON, Aug 5 Reuters European equities slipped slightly on Friday but were still set for a weekly gain, while traders waited for U.S. jobs data due later in the session to give clues as to the health of the world39;s largest economy.

The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, was up 0.2 and on track for a weekly gain of 0.7 marking its third consecutive week of gains.

Asian shares rose overnight but at 0823 GMT the STOXX 600 was down 0.1, France39;s CAC 40 and Germany39;s DAX were flat. London39;s FTSE 100 was down 0.2.

Central banks around the world have been raising interest rates in an attempt to limit surging inflation, but European stocks have recovered to near twomonth highs this week.

Equity futures have grown comfortable with the idea that interest rate hikes that the central banks are putting through will be sufficient to contain inflation in the longer term, said Kiran Ganesh, multiasset strategist at UBS.

But other asset classes are reflecting a slowdown.

The closely watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve measuring the gap between yields on two and 10year Treasury notes reached 39.2 basis points on Thursday, the deepest inversion since 2000.

An inverted yield curve is often seen as an indicator of a future recession.

Oil rose, recovering after the previous session saw prices hit their lowest levels since February. Concerns about supply shortages were enough to cancel out fears of weakening fuel demand.

Global crude oil…