European Shares Rise On ECB Rate Cut Hopes

(RTTNews) - European stocks traded higher on Friday despite the latest U.S. court rulings on President Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs adding another layer of uncertainty.

"We are already negotiating in [a] quite uncertain environment, with things changing quite rapidly," Valdis Dombrovskis, European Union commissioner for economy, told CNBC's Karen Tso.

He described the tariff situation as "urgent," and reiterated that the EU was committed to agreeing to a negotiated deal with the U.S.

Meanwhile, investors shrugged off data from Destatis showing that German retail sales decreased 1.1 percent on a monthly basis in April, in contrast to the 0.9 percent rise in March. Sales were expected to grow 0.3 percent.

Year-on-year, retail sales growth softened to 2.3 percent from 3.3 percent a month ago.

Elsewhere, Spanish inflation fell below the European Central Bank's 2 percent target in May and inflation data from a slew of German states signaled weakening inflationary pressures, raising the odds of another interest rate cut by the European Central Bank when it next meets on June 5.

The pan European STOXX 600 rose half a percent to 550.63 after falling 0.2 percent in the previous session.

The German DAX climbed 0.8 percent, France's CAC 40 edged up by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.6 percent.

Pharmaceutical firm Sanofi SA slumped 6 percent after reporting mixed results from two phase 3 trials of its investigational chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment, Itepekimab.

Sirius Real Estate gained about 1 percent after selling its Pfungstadt park for €30 million.

Drax Group jumped 2.2 percent. The renewable energy company has announced the lapse of its cash offer for the entire issued share capital of HEIT.