Major European Markets Close Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - Despite uncertainty surrounding Trump administration's tariff plans, The major European markets mostly closed higher on Friday. Trade tensions escalated after the U.S. President accused China of violating trade agreement reached earlier this month, but investors picked up stocks amid expectations of an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank.

There is uncertainty about Trump administration's tariff moves after U.S. court rulings against the levies proposed by the U.S. President.

Following an appeal by the Trump administration, an appeals court temporarily pausing the lower court's ruling.

"We are already negotiating in [a] quite uncertain environment, with things changing quite rapidly," Valdis Dombrovskis, European Union commissioner for economy, reportedly 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, the U.S. President accused China of violating the trade agreement reached earlier this month. Trump said in a post on Truth Social that "everything quickly stabilized and China got back to business as usual" following the trade deal.

"Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!!" Trump said. "The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US. So much for being Mr. NICE GUY!"

Trump's claim comes after Treasury Secretary Bessent said in a Fox News interview on Thursday that U.S.-China trade talks "are a bit stalled."

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended 0.14% up. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.64%, Germany's DAX gained 0.27%, and France's CAC 40 closed down 0.34%. Switzerland's SMI gained 0.33%.

Among other markets in Europe, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak. Portugal, Russia and Spain posted modest gains, while Austria, Belgium and Iceland edged up marginally.

In the UK market, M&G climbed about 5.5%. GSK, BT Group, AstraZeneca, Unite Group and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners gained 2.4 to 3.5%.

Glencore, Whitbread, United Utilities, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Schroders, Severn Trent, Reckitt Benckise, JD Sports Fashion, National Grid, Tesco and Babcock International Group also ended notably higher.

IAG, Spirax Group, Compass Group, Polar Capital Technology Trust, Rio Tinto and Endeavour Mining closed lower by 1 to 2%.

In the German market, Zalando gained about 2% and Fresenius climbed 1.9%. SAP, Munich RE and Symrise gained 1 to 1.3%.

Sartorius, Porsche, Heidelberg Materials, Infineon and Siemens Healthineers closed lower by 1 to 3.3%.

In the French market, Eurofins Scientific rallied more than 3%. Hermes International gained nearly 2% and L'Oreal climbed 1.72%.

Carrefour ended down 7.4% and Sanofi closed nearly 5% down. Sanofi declined sharply after reporting mixed results from two phase 3 trials of its investigational chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment, Itepekimab.

STMicroElectronics, Vinci, Essilor, Renault, Saint Gobain and Bouygues ended lower by 1 to 1.7%.

Data from Destatis showed Germany's retail sales declined unexpectedly in April, decreasing by 1.1% on a monthly basis, after a 0.9% increase in March. Sales were expected to grow 0.3%.

Year-on-year, retail sales growth softened to 2.3% from 3.3% a month ago. Nonetheless, the pace of increase was slower than the forecast of 1.8%.

In e-commerce and mail order, sales in April registered a decline of 0.2% in real terms.

Destatis is slated to issue flash consumer price data for May later in the day. German inflation is expected to slow marginally to 2% from 2.1% in April.

Data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Limited (SMMT) showed UK car production fell 15.8% year-on-year in April 2025 to 59,203 units, as US tariffs and the timing of Easter disrupted manufacturing. This marks the lowest April output since 1952.