European Shares End Under Water On Friday

(RTTNews) - The major European markets finished in the red on Friday, unable to hold early gains and slumping late in the trading day.

The early support for the markets was largely fueled by banks on optimism over the outlook for interest rates moving forward into 2026 - although comments from Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee threw water on those hopes.

The markets were also dragged lower near the end of the day by heavy selling among the technology stocks on concerns over valuations.

Germany's DAX dropped 108.12 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 24,186.49, while London's FTSE sank 54.13 points or 0.56 percent to close at 9,649.03 and the CAC 40 in France slipped 17.14 points or 0.21 percent to end at 8,068.62.

In Germany, Siemens Energy plunged 4.25 percent, while Deutsche Bank stumbled 3.13 percent, Heidelberg Materials declined 0.98 percent, Siemens Healthineers advanced 0.94 percent, Infineon Technologies sank 0.77 percent, RWE improved 0.74 percent, BASF added 0.63 percent, Deutsche Telekom lost 0.41 percent, Vonovia rose 0.33 percent and Deutsche Post dipped 0.04 percent.

In London, Metlen Energy tanked 4.16 percent, while St. James Place retreated 3.59 percent, British American Tobacco tumbled 3.33 percent, Ashtead Group rallied 2.55 percent, Prudential slumped 1.33 percent, Auto Trader climbed 1.21 percent, Tesco skidded 1.17 percent, Airtel Africa dropped 0.97 percent, Haleon shed 0.86 percent, Shell fell 0.76 percent, Scottish Mortgage slid 0.70 percent, Centrica added 0.48 percent and Rolls-Royce dipped 0.32 percent.

In Frane, Atos skyrocketed 9.97 percent, Worldline spiked 2.00 percent, Legrand retreated 1.63 percent, Schneider Electric surrendered 1.57 percent, Accor improved 1.30 percent, Societe Generale slumped 1.21 percent, Engie climbed 1.12 percent, Credit Agricole shed 0.95 percent, Veolia Environment lost 0.82 percent and BNP Paribas fell 0.74 percent.

In economic news, the UK economy contracted for the second straight month in October, the Office for National Statistics reported Friday. Gross domestic product fell unexpectedly by 0.1 percent month-on-month in October, the same pace of drop as in September. On an annual basis, GDP was up 1.1 percent in October, which was weaker than forecast of 1.4 percent.

Germany's consumer price inflation remained unchanged in November, as initially estimated, but EU harmonized inflation accelerated, Destatis said Friday. The consumer price index rose 2.3 percent year-on-year, the same as in October. The statistical office confirmed the estimate published on November 28.

France's consumer price inflation held steady as initially estimated in November, final data from the statistical office INSEE showed on Friday. Consumer price inflation came in at 0.9 percent in November, the same as in October. That was in line with the flash data published earlier.