European Stocks Close Weak On Profit Taking, U.S. Trade Policy Uncertainty

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed lower on Friday, but several markets in the region still posted weekly gains, having moved higher over the past few sessions as investors shrugged off concerns about Trump administration's tariff moves and chose to focus on earnings.

Investors booked some profits. The mood remained cautious amid concerns about potential reciprocal tariffs by the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on the nation's trading partners around the world, effective April 2025.

Investors, digesting the data that showed Germany's wholesale prices increased for the second straight month in December, also continued to focus on earnings updates.

Optimism about more monetary easing by central banks and hopes of an end to the Russia-Ukraine war contributed a bit to markets' good show earlier in the week.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.24%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed down 0.37% and Germany's DAX ended 0.44% down, while France's CAC 40 climbed 0.18%. Switzerland's SMI shed 0.84%.

Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Poland, Russia, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak.

Austria, Finland, Greece, Norway, Portugal and Spain ended higher, while Netherlands closed flat.

In the UK market, Schrodders lost more than 3%. IAG, AstraZeneca, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Barratt Redrow, Unilever, Diageo, Haleon, Endeavour Mining, JD Sports Fashion, BAE Systems, Relx and Howden Joinery lost 1.4 to 2.5%/

Natwest Group ended lower by about 2% despite the lender posting higher earnings and issuing strong revenue guidance. The bank posted a profit of 4.519 billion pounds or 53.1 pence per share in fiscal year 2024, up from 4.394 billion pounds or 47.7 pence per share in the prior year.

Net interest income for the year was 11.28 billion pounds compared to 11.05 billion pounds in the previous year. Non-interest income was 3.43 billion pounds compared to 3.70 billion pounds last year.

Entain rallied nearly 7% after U.S. peer DraftKings raised its 2025 revenue forecast. ICG, Rentokil Initial and Glencore gained 2.2 to 2.5%. Croda International, Segro, Scottish Mortgage, DCC and Reckitt Benckiser closed higher by 1 to 1.5%.

In the German market, Rheinmetall surged nearly 8%. BMW gained about 2.5%. Daimler Truck Holding climbed 1%. Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen posted modest gains.

Commerzbank gained about 1.25%. E.ON, Covestro and RWE ended modestly higher.

Fresenius Medical Care dropped 5.5%. Allianz, Fresenius, Hannover Rueck, Adidas, Munich RE, Qiagen, Sartorius, Siemens Energy, Deutsche Boerse, Siemens, Symrise, Puma, SAP and Bayer lost 1 to 2.7%.

In the French market, Teleperformance rallied about 3.25%. Unibail Rodamco, Kering, STMicroElectronics, Thales, Vivendi, Stellantis, Legrand, Renault and Dassault Systemes closed higher by 1 to 2.3%.

Hermes International gained nearly 1% on strong sales in the fourth-quarter, and a sharp near 18% jump in revenues. The company's bottom line totaled EUR4.603 billion, or EUR43.87 per share. This compares with EUR4.311 billion, or EUR41.12 per share, last year.

The company's revenue for the period rose 13.0% to EUR15.170 billion from EUR13.427 billion last year.

Sanofi, ArcelorMittal, Orange and AXA ended down 1.2 to 1.7%.

Data from Destatis showed Wholesale prices in Germany rose by 0.9% year-on-year in January 2025, accelerating from a 0.1% gain in the previous month. This marks the second consecutive period of growth and was the fastest since April 2023. Prices were forecast to grow 0.2% in January.

On a monthly basis, wholesales prices grew 0.9%, the most since September 2022, picking up from a 0.1% rise in December.

The main reason for the increase in wholesale prices was higher prices of non-ferrous metals and semi-finished products. Prices of coffee, tea, cocoa and spices were also considerably more expensive than in the same period last year.

Preliminary reports on Euro zone GDP growth and employment numbers for the fourth quarter are due later in the day.