{"id":56278,"date":"2025-02-14T18:33:46","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T18:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2025\/02\/14\/european-stocks-close-weak-on-profit-taking-u-s-trade-policy-uncertainty\/"},"modified":"2025-02-14T18:33:46","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T18:33:46","slug":"european-stocks-close-weak-on-profit-taking-u-s-trade-policy-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pantheregroup.com\/2025\/02\/14\/european-stocks-close-weak-on-profit-taking-u-s-trade-policy-uncertainty\/","title":{"rendered":"European Stocks Close Weak On Profit Taking, U.S. Trade Policy Uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"
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European stocks closed lower on Friday, but several markets<\/span> in the region still posted weekly gains, having moved higher over the past few sessions as investors shrugged off concerns about Trump administration’s tariff moves and chose to focus on earnings.<\/p>\n

Investors booked some profits. The mood remained cautious amid concerns about potential reciprocal tariffs by the United States.<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on the nation’s trading partners around the world, effective April 2025.<\/p>\n

Investors, digesting the data that showed Germany’s wholesale prices increased for the second straight month in December, also continued to focus on earnings updates.<\/p>\n

Optimism about more monetary easing by central banks and hopes of an end to the Russia-Ukraine war contributed a bit to markets’ good show earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.24%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 closed down 0.37% and Germany’s DAX ended 0.44% down, while France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.18%. Switzerland’s SMI shed 0.84%.<\/p>\n

Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Poland, Russia, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak.<\/p>\n

Austria, Finland, Greece, Norway, Portugal and Spain ended higher, while Netherlands closed flat.<\/p>\n

In the UK market, Schrodders lost more than 3%. IAG, AstraZeneca, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Barratt Redrow, Unilever, Diageo, Haleon, Endeavour Mining, JD Sports Fashion, BAE Systems, Relx and Howden Joinery lost 1.4 to 2.5%\/<\/p>\n

Natwest Group ended lower by about 2% despite the lender posting higher earnings and issuing strong revenue guidance. The bank posted a profit of 4.519 billion pounds or 53.1 pence per share in fiscal year 2024, up from 4.394 billion pounds or 47.7 pence per share in the prior year.<\/p>\n

Net interest income for the year was 11.28 billion pounds compared to 11.05 billion pounds in the previous year. Non-interest income was 3.43 billion pounds compared to 3.70 billion pounds last year.<\/p>\n

Entain rallied nearly 7% after U.S. peer DraftKings raised its 2025 revenue forecast. ICG, Rentokil Initial and Glencore gained 2.2 to 2.5%. Croda International, Segro, Scottish Mortgage, DCC and Reckitt Benckiser closed higher by 1 to 1.5%.<\/p>\n

In the German market, Rheinmetall surged nearly 8%. BMW gained about 2.5%. Daimler Truck Holding climbed 1%. Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen posted modest gains.<\/p>\n

Commerzbank gained about 1.25%. E.ON, Covestro and RWE ended modestly higher.<\/p>\n

Fresenius Medical Care dropped 5.5%. Allianz, Fresenius, Hannover Rueck, Adidas, Munich RE, Qiagen, Sartorius, Siemens Energy, Deutsche Boerse, Siemens, Symrise, Puma, SAP and Bayer lost 1 to 2.7%.<\/p>\n

In the French market, Teleperformance rallied about 3.25%. Unibail Rodamco, Kering, STMicroElectronics, Thales, Vivendi, Stellantis, Legrand, Renault and Dassault Systemes closed higher by 1 to 2.3%.<\/p>\n

Hermes International gained nearly 1% on strong sales in the fourth-quarter, and a sharp near 18% jump in revenues. The company’s bottom line totaled EUR4.603 billion, or EUR43.87 per share. This compares with EUR4.311 billion, or EUR41.12 per share, last year.<\/p>\n

The company’s revenue for the period rose 13.0% to EUR15.170 billion from EUR13.427 billion last year.<\/p>\n

Sanofi, ArcelorMittal, Orange and AXA ended down 1.2 to 1.7%.<\/p>\n

Data from Destatis showed Wholesale prices in Germany rose by 0.9% year-on-year in January 2025, accelerating from a 0.1% gain in the previous month. This marks the second consecutive period of growth and was the fastest since April 2023. Prices were forecast to grow 0.2% in January.<\/p>\n

On a monthly basis, wholesales prices grew 0.9%, the most since September 2022, picking up from a 0.1% rise in December.<\/p>\n

The main reason for the increase in wholesale prices was higher prices of non-ferrous metals and semi-finished products. Prices of coffee, tea, cocoa and spices were also considerably more expensive than in the same period last year.<\/p>\n

Preliminary reports on Euro zone GDP growth and employment numbers for the fourth quarter are due later in the day. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n