UPDATE 2-European stocks end flat as worrying data offsets upbeat earnings

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* STOXX gives up session gains; Travel & leisure stocks drag
* U.S. jobless claims rise; EU consumer confidences falls
* Unilever rallies in relief after Q2 earnings report
* Daimler sees recovery in Mercedes cars and vans division
* Ad firm Publicis soars after sales beat

(Updates to close)
By Sruthi Shankar and Susan Mathew
July 23 (Reuters) - European shares ended flat on Thursday,
after a jump in U.S. weekly jobless claims and falling euro zone
consumer confidence put a dampener on economic recovery hopes,
erasing earlier gains made on strong regional earnings reports.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX gave up gains of
as much as 0.8% after data showed U.S. jobless claims rose for
the first time in nearly four months, suggesting the labor
market was stalling amid a surge in COVID-19 cases. In Europe, consumer confidence deteriorated in July despite
expectations of an improvement. "The big question is: how much pent-up demand will be seen
in the months ahead? Sales figures (in Europe) have so far been
encouraging, but the July confidence figures cast some doubts
over the spending outlook," said Bert Colijn, senior economist,
eurozone, at ING.
There were similar doubts about U.S. consumer spending as
the additional amount received by the unemployed under an
emergency stimulus program is set to taper over the weekend.
"We should be braced for a period of worsening economic
news," ING's Chief International Economist James Knightley said.
The travel and leisure sector .SXTP - worst hit by
pandemic containment measures - fell 1.1%. It has lost more than
36% this year with a recovery from March lows plateauing.
Losses in the main index were capped by a 2.1% surge in
automakers .SXAP after Germany's Daimler AG DAIGn.DE
forecast a rise in operating profit at its Mercedes-Benz cars
and vans division in 2020 as sales rebound. Unilever ULVR.L climbed 7.9% as its second-quarter sales
fell far less than feared. Shares in Nestle NESN.S and Danone
DANO.PA rose about 1.5% each.
Publicis Groupe SA PUBP.PA , the world's third-biggest
advertising company, surged 8% after it beat market expectations
for quarterly underlying sales. Companies listed on the STOXX 600 are expected to report a
58.6% drop in second-quarter earnings, but many investors
believe there is a big margin for error, given analysts in many
cases had no precise outlook to factor into their estimates.
The STOXX 600 is on track to end with weekly gains as hopes
of a COVID-19 vaccine and optimism around a European Union
recovery fund pushed the benchmark index to early March highs.
But investors keep a wary eye on U.S-China trade relations
as they await Beijing's official response to the forced closure
of its consulate in Houston amid accusations of spying.