U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable discussion on the administration’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge in the Indian Treaty Room of the White House on March 4, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Win McNamee | Getty Images
LONDON – European stock markets closed lower on Thursday as market participants tracked geopolitical developments in the Middle East.
pan-european Stocks 600 The stock ended 1.4% lower, erasing early gains as the region’s major exchanges and most sectors, excluding media, ended in negative territory.
spanish ibex 35 Madrid ended down 1.4% after drawing the ire of US President Donald Trump after refusing to allow the US military to use its base to attack Iran. “Spain was terrible,” President Trump said Tuesday. “We are cutting off all trade with Spain. We want nothing to do with Spain.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday called the Middle East crisis a “disaster.”
Later, the White House announced that Spain would cooperate militarily with the United States over the Iran conflict, a claim that Madrid flatly rejected.
Read more: Spain rejects White House claim it has agreed to cooperate with US forces during Iran war
german tank manufacturer Lenk reported on Thursday that it posted revenue of 1.37 billion euros (approximately $1.6 billion) in fiscal 2025, up 19.8% from a year earlier, supported by strong growth in its defense business.
New orders amounted to 1.57 billion euros, with a total order backlog of 6.7 billion euros, up from around 5 billion euros in 2024. Despite continued geopolitical uncertainty, Renk expects sales of 1.5 billion euros in 2026. The company’s shares closed down 11.4%.
Global market attention remains focused on the US and Israel’s war against Iran, with attacks escalating in the past 24 hours.
Israel launched a new attack on Tehran on Wednesday, with the country’s defense minister vowing to “crush” the Iranian regime’s capabilities. Meanwhile, the United States announced that it had destroyed 17 Iranian vessels and about 2,000 targets.
According to reports, senior Iranian clerics in charge of selecting the next supreme leader are considering appointing Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Khamenei, to the top post.
The final outcome between the US and Israel in Operation Epic Fury remains uncertain, with experts telling CNBC that Iran could be mired in war if it proves more resilient than expected.
Oil prices continue to rise on Thursday, by global standards brent Oil prices were last up 3.7% to $84.44 per barrel. west texas intermediateThe U.S. benchmark rose 6% to $79.17 a barrel.
“The situation in the Middle East is evolving rapidly, and investors are finding it difficult to make firm judgments about whether the energy crisis will persist or be just a short-term sharp shock,” Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said in a note Thursday morning.
On Wall Street, S&P500 It last fell about 0.7% as U.S. stocks fell in the face of rising oil prices.
