European Stocks Close Weak On Tariff Jitters

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed weak on Thursday amid rising fears of a trade war after the U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 25% tariff on European cars and other goods, and confirmed 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico from early March, and an additional 10% tax on Chinese imports.

The UK market managed to outperform thanks to strong buying in Rolls-Royce which raised its earnings guidance and also announced a share buyback.

The pan European Stoxx 600 closed down 0.46%. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 lost 1.07% and 0.51%, respectively. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.28%, while Switzerland's SMI ended 0.65% down.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden closed higher.

Ireland and Turkiye ended weak.

In the UK market, Rolls-Royce Holdings soared nearly 16%. The aerospace and defense major reported 2024 operating profit of £2.46 billion, beating analyst expectations. Looking ahead, for fiscal 2025, the company now projects underlying operating profit of 2.7 billion pounds to 2.9 billion pounds, as well as free cash flow of 2.7 billion pounds to 2.9 billion pounds.

London Stock Exchange ended higher by a little over 6%.

Aviva climbed 4.2% after reporting full-year profit of 683 million pounds or 23.3 pence per share from 1.09 billion pounds or 37.2 pence per share in 2023.

Hiscox gained about 4.5%. IAG and BAE Systems closed higher by 3.51% and 3.46%, respectively.

BT Group, BP, Pearson, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Standard Chartered, EasyJet, AstraZeneca and Entain also closed notably higher.

WPP plunged more than 16% as revenues fell in the fourth-quarter amid weaker client spending. Operating profit for 2024 came in at £1.7 billion which is below the £1.8 billion the previous year.

Howden Joinery lost about 6.1% after reporting a 0.3% drop in operating profit at 339.2 million pounds in 2024, from 340.2 million pounds in the previous year. Net profit was 249.3 million pounds or 45.4p per share, down from 254.6 million pounds or 46.3p per share last year.

Haleon closed 3.3% down, after reporting a fall in revenue. However, the company reported a rise in pre-tax income, helped by a decline in costs and a rise in other incomes.

St. James's Place ended lower by about 3%. The company said its fiscal 2024 IFRS profit before shareholder tax was 535.9 million pounds, compared to prior year's loss of 4.5 million pounds. Earnings per share were 72.6 pence, compared to loss of 1.8 pence last year.

Endeavour Mining closed down 5.2% and Berkeley Group Holdings ended lower by 3.1%. Barclays Group, Taylor Wimpey, 3i Group, Diageo, Halma, Spirax Group, Rentokil Initial and Anglo American Plc lost 2 to 2.6%.

In the German market, Porsche and BMW both ended nearly 4% down. Mercedes-Benz and Daimler Truck Holding lost 2.7% and 2.5%, respectively. Volkswagen ended down 1.9%.

Zalando ended more than 4% down. Brenntag, SAP, HeidelbergCement, Infineon, Fresenius, Symrise, Deutsche Bank, BASF, Henkel, Qiagen, RWE, Deutsche Post, Bayer, Sartorius, Siemens and Merck also ended notably lower.

Beiersdorf gained about 3.3% after reporting that fiscal 2024 profit after tax increased to 928 million euros from 749 million euros, last year. For 2025, Beiersdorf expects organic sales growth in the range of 4-6%. The company has also announced a new share buyback program.

Rheinmetall rallied nearly 3.5%. Deutsche Telekom, Vonovia, Fresenius Medical Care, MTU Aero Engines and Hannover Rueck also closed on firm note.

In the French market, Stellantis fell 5.2%. Publicis Groupe, STMicroElectronics, Teleperformance, Capgemini, Dassault Systemes and Saint Gobain lost 2 to 4.5%.

Eurofins Scientific, ArcelorMittal, Airbus Group, Schneider Electric, Danone and LVMH declined sharply.

AXA ended lower by about 1.4%. The company reported that fiscal 2024 net income increased by 11% to 7.9 billion euros. Underlying earnings increased by 7% to 8.1 billion euros. Underlying earnings per share increased by 8% to 3.59 euros. Gross written premiums & other revenues were at 110 billion euros, up 8%.

Engie rallied about 5.3% after the energy provider reported significantly higher profit in fiscal 2024, despite weak revenues, and proposed a dividend. Further, the firm upgraded outlook for fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2026, and said it sees growth in fiscal 2027.

For fiscal 2024, net income share surged 85.9% to 4.11 billion euros from last year's 2.21 billion euros. Earnings per share climbed to 1.65 euros from 0.88 euro a year ago.

Essilor, Vivendi and Thales gained 1.7 to 2.1%, while Orange, Bouygues and Michelin posted modest gains.

On the economic front, Eurozone economic confidence strengthened to a five-month high in February on improving confidence among industrial managers and consumers, a closely watched survey revealed Thursday.

The economic confidence index registered 96.3 in February, up from 95.3 in the previous month, survey data from the European Commission revealed. The reading was above economists' forecast of 96.0 and was also the highest since last September.

Producer prices in the French industry decreased 2.1% from a year ago, but this was slower than the 3.8% fall in December, data from INSEE showed. The decline was largely driven by the 8.9% decrease in the cost of mining and quarrying, energy and water and a 1.5% drop in coke and refined petroleum product prices.

On a monthly basis, producer prices climbed 0.7% after a 0.9% gain in December.

Data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, or SMMT, said UK car production logged a double-digit decline in January reflecting weakness in key markets combined with planned model changeovers.

The data said vehicle production slid 17.7% from a year ago. Factories rolled out 71,104 cars and 6,908 commercial vehicles. In the same period last year, there was a bumper performance, when car and commercial vehicle output climbed 21.0 percent and 27.5 percent.

Production for home market declined 30.5% and that for exports decreased 13.4% from the previous year.