A bear statue stands outside the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on April 7, 2025 in Frankfurt, Germany.
Florian Wiegand | Getty Images
European stock markets fell on Friday morning as uncertainty over peace talks between the US and Iran weighed on investor sentiment.
pan-european Stocks 600 London fell 0.5% shortly after 8:35 a.m. ET (3:35 a.m. ET), sending most regional sectors and all major stock exchanges into negative territory. Oil and gas led the gains as energy prices rose, rising 1.2% in early trading. The biggest losses were in mining stocks, which fell about 1.7%.
share in SAP Shares rose about 6.4% in morning trading after the German multinational enterprise software giant said its operating profit rose about 17% and cloud revenue rose 19% in its latest quarterly results.
SAP CEO Christian Klein said Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” that the company is “uniquely positioned to win in business AI,” adding that the company will “double down and reinvest” more money into AI innovation.
renault Meanwhile, shares fell 2.2% after the French automaker announced first-quarter sales fell 3.3% year-on-year. However, group revenue increased by 7.3% in the same period to reach 12.5 billion euros ($14.6 billion).
Investor attention continues to be focused on developments in the Middle East. “Don’t rush it,” US President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday in response to a question about a long-term deal with Iran. He also said he would not set a “timetable” for when the war would end.
Overnight, it was reported that US forces had boarded and searched another tanker believed to be carrying Iranian oil through the Indian Ocean.
Oil prices rose slightly on Friday morning, along with global indicators. brent crude oil Futures added 0.5% to $105.65 per barrel, while U.S. west texas intermediate Futures rose slightly by 0.4% to $96.12.
Back in Europe, investors will be watching for a surge in new corporate earnings. Eni, orangeand volvo This also includes companies that plan to update shareholders on their financial performance.
New data from the Office for National Statistics shows UK retail sales rose 0.7% in March, beating economists’ expectations of 0.1%.
Other economic indicators to be released on Friday include France’s Consumer Confidence Index and Germany’s Ifo Business Update.
