European Stocks Closed Weak On Trump's Fresh Tariff Threat

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed on a weak note on Friday despite staging a fairly strong recovery past mid afternoon. After staying modestly higher till noon, the major European markets tumbled after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose 50% tariffs on imports from the European Union from June 1st.

"The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with," Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Encouraging German GDP data and UK retail sales report and consumer confidence data helped limit markets' downside to some extent. , The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.93%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed just 0.24% down, thanks largely to the UK-US trade agreement arrived earlier in the month. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended down 1.54% and 1.65%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI ended lower by 0.58%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye all closed weak.

Norway bucked the trend and ended marginally up.

In the UK market, JD Sports Fashion, Prudential, Games Workshop, Beazley, Mondi, Vodafone Group, Marks & Spencer, Diploma, Hiscox and IAG lost 2 to 3.1%.

Weir Group, BT Group, HSBC Holdings, Croda International, Standard Chartered, Barclays Group and F&C Investment Trust also ended notably lower.

Anglo American Plc, Endeavour Mining, Fresnillo, Convatec Group, Rentokil Initial, Imperial Brands, Antofagasta, Land Securities, British American Tobacco, 3i Group, Auto Trader Group and Berkeley Group Holdings gained 1 to 3.4%.

Shares of investment platform AJ Bell Plc rallied sharply after the company posted a 12% year-over-year rise in half-yearly profit before tax and raised its FY 25 guidance.

In the German market, Brenntag, Deutsche Bank, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Infineon, BMW, Siemens Healthineers, Continental, Volkswagen, Puma, Fresenius Medical Care, BASF, Munich RE, Commerzbank, Siemens and Daimler Truck Holding lost 2 to 4%.

Vonovia, E.ON, Symrise, Heidelberg Materials and Bayer closed moderately higher.

In the French market, Essilor, Stellantis, STMicroElectronics, Pernod Ricard, Societe Generale, Hermes International, Airbus, Safran, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole closed down 2 to 5%.

On the economic front, UK retail sales rebounded more than expected in April as good weather boosted food store sales, official data showed on Friday.

A monthly survey today showed that British consumer confidence strengthened in May on hopes of easing trade tensions and the interest rate reduction by the Bank of England.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed retail sales grew 1.2% on a monthly basis in April, following a revised 0.1% rise in March. Sales were expected to climb only 0.3%.

The four consecutive monthly rises in retail sales led to a 1.8% increase in the three months to April period compared to the previous three months. Sales, thus, marked the biggest three-monthly rise since mid-2021.

Year-on-year, retail sales growth accelerated more-than-expected to 5% from 1.9% in March. Sales were forecast to grow 4.5%.

The GfK consumer confidence index rose to -20 in May from -23 in April, survey results showed Friday. All five key indicators improved in May, led by two forward-looking findings.

Data from Destatis showed Germany's GDP registered a quarterly growth of 0.4% compared to the previous estimate of 0.2% expansion. The econony had contracted 0.2% in the fourth quarter of the previous financial year.

"Growth was slightly higher than predicted in the first estimate due to the surprisingly good economic development seen in March," Federal Statistical Office President Ruth Brand said.

"In particular, output in manufacturing and exports registered stronger growth than initially assumed," Brand added.

Calendar-adjusted GDP remained flat on a yearly basis after easing 0.2% in the fourth quarter. The first quarter GDP was revised up from the previous estimate of 0.2% fall.

Data from the statistical office INSEE showed France's consumer confidence fell to 88 in May 2025 from a downwardly revised 91 in April, missing forecasts of an improvement to 93.

Concerns about unemployment jumped sharply to 61.00 from 52.0, reaching its highest level since May 2015, while inflation expectations also increased, coming in a t -38 from -37).