A bear statue stands outside the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on April 7, 2025 in Frankfurt, Germany.
Florian Wiegand | Getty Images
European stock markets traded lower on Friday morning, as uncertainty over U.S.-Iran peace talks weighed on investor sentiment.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 0.5% shortly after 8:35 a.m. in London (3:35 a.m. ET), with most regional sectors and all major bourses in negative territory. Oil and gas led the gains, rising 1.2% in early dealmaking as energy prices ticked higher. Mining stocks saw the largest losses, sliding almost 1.7%.
Shares in SAP surged about 6.4% in morning trade after the German multinational enterprise software giant announced a rise in operating profits of almost 17%, and a 19% jump in cloud revenues, in its latest quarterly earnings.
SAP CEO Christian Klein told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday that the company is “uniquely positioned to win in business AI” adding that it will “double down and reinvest” more money into AI innovation.
Renault shares, meanwhile, were 2.2% lower after the French carmaker said its first-quarter sales were 3.3% lower than the same three-month period last year. Its group revenues rose 7.3% in the period, however, reaching 12.5 billion euros ($14.6 billion).
Investor attention remains focused on developments in the Middle East. On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters, “don’t rush me,” when questioned on a long-term deal with Iran. He also said he won’t put a “timetable” on when the war will end.
Overnight, it was reported that U.S. forces had boarded and searched another tanker thought to be carrying Iranian oil through the Indian Ocean.
Oil prices edged higher on Friday morning, with global benchmark Brent crude futures adding 0.5% to reach $105.65 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were marginally higher at $96.12, a 0.4% increase.
Back in Europe, investors will be monitoring another flurry of corporate earnings, with Eni, Orange, and Volvo among the firms set to update shareholders on their finances.
U.K. retail sales increased 0.7% in March, according to new Office for National Statistics data, outweighing the 0.1% forecast by economists.
Other economic data releases on Friday include French consumer confidence figures, and a German Ifo Business Climate update.
