Major European Markets Close Weak On Growth Worries Amid U.S. Policy Uncertainty

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed weak on Friday as uncertainty surrounding U.S. Government's trade policy, and growth concerns due to weak U.S. non-farm payroll data, rendered the mood cautious, prompting investors to lighten commitments ahead of the weekend.

Markets in Europe had bounced back after the terrible setbacks it had suffered at the start of the week, but then, with the U.S. President Donald Trump's frequent change of stance with regard to tariffs is hurting sentiment in markets across the globe.

The U.S. President, who exempted for now the tariffs on autos imported into the U.S., suspended the 25% tariffs imposed earlier in the week on most Canadian and Mexican goods, pushing the deadline to April 2nd.

In political news, European Union leaders reaffirmed their support for Ukraine, pledging increased military aid during an emergency summit on Thursday.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.46%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down 0.03%, Germany's DAX closed down 1.75% and France's CAC 40 lost 0.94%. Switzerland's SMI closed 0.36% up. The DAX posted a strong weekly gain, while the FTSE 100 and CAC 40, suffered weekly losses.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Russia and Sweden ended weak.

Iceland, Norway, Portugal and Turkiye closed higher, while Belgium, Greece, Netherlands, Poland and Spain settled little changed.

In the UK market, Melrose Industries tanked more than 12%, with the company's results falling short of expectations. Schroders declined nearly 5% after reporting a drop in operating profit. The company has also unveiled plans for cost reductions.

BAE Systems ended 4.1% down, while Anglo American Plc, Barclays, Glencore, Lloyds Banking Group, Natwest Group, Croda International and IAG lost 1.7 to 3.3%.

BT gained nearly 5%. Vodafone, Taylor Wimpey, Coca-Cola HBC, Barratt Redrow, JD Sports Fashion, LondonMetric Property, Segro, Kingfisher, GSK and Reckitt Benckiser lost 2 to 4%.

In the German market, Rheinmetall tumbled about 7%. Bayer, MTU Aero Engines, Siemens Energy, Sartorius, BMW, Merck, Siemens, Mercedes-Benz, SAP, Daimler Truck Holding, Deutsche Post, Infineon and Brenntag lost 2 to 6.5%.

Adidas, Continental, BASF, Heidelberg Materials, Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank and Puma also closed notably lower.

E.ON. climbed 2.75% and Deutsche Telekom gained about 2.5%. Henkel, Porsche, Deutsche Boerse and Commerzbank posted moderate gains.

In the French market, ArcelorMittal closed down by about 5.5%. Kering, Thales, Teleperformance, LVMH, Dassault Systemes, Hermes International, Bouygues, REnault, Safran, Capgemini, STMicroElectronics, Stellantis and Edenred also declined sharply.

Vivendi climbed nearly 4%. Publicis Groupe and Danone gained about 2.1% and 2%, respectively. Danone ended 1.1% up, while Veolia closed modestly higher.

On the economic front, data from Destatis said Germany's industrial orders declined more than expected in January reflecting sharp decreases in orders for machinery and transport equipments. Industrial orders fell 7% month-on-month in January, in contrast to the revised 5.9% rise in the previous month. Economists had forecast a moderate 2.8% fall for January.

UK house prices fell unexpectedly in February as demand started to soften with the stamp duty holiday to end on March 31, mortgage lender Halifax said. House prices registered a monthly fall of 0.1% in February, reversing January's 0.6% increase. Prices were forecast to grow 0.5%.

Year-on-year, house prices advanced 2.9%, the same pace of growth as seen in January. Economists had forecast an annual growth of 3.1%.

Data from the customs office said France's trade deficit increased sharply in January as exports fell amid an increase in imports.

The trade gap rose to EUR 6.54 billion from EUR 3.48 billion in December. In the same period last year, the trade deficit totaled EUR 6.87 billion. Exports declined 4.6% on a monthly basis, while imports climbed 1.2% in January.

Year-on-year, both exports and imports rose by 2.1% and 0.5%, respectively.

The Labor Department's data said employment in the U.S. increased by slightly less than expected in the month of February. The report said non-farm payroll employment climbed by 151,000 jobs in February after rising by a downwardly revised 125,000 jobs in January.

Economists had expected employment to grow by 160,000 jobs compared to the addition of 143,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

The Labor Department also said the unemployment crept up to 4.1% in February from 4.1% in January, while economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.