Europe stocks open to close: earnings, data, US-China trade

Euro zone inflation was unchanged at 2.2% in April, missing expectations for a move lower, flash data from statistics agency Eurostat showed.

Economists polled by Reuters had been expecting the reading to come in at 2.1% in April compared to March’s 2.2% as inflation has been easing back towards the European Central Bank’s 2% target.

Data released earlier this week indicated that the euro zone economy could be picking up steam, with the bloc’s gross domestic product rising 0.4% in the first quarter of 2025, according to a preliminary reading. This was higher than the forecast of 0.2%.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Europe’s Stoxx 600 index was 1% higher at 9:40 a.m. London time at 532.6 points, drawing closer to the 539.6 point level reached on April 1 — just before U.S. President Donald Trump sparked huge market volatility with his tariff policies.

“April was an absolutely seismic month in financial markets, as the announcement of US reciprocal tariffs led to a huge global sell-off,” Deutsche Bank analysts Jim Reid and Henry Allen said in a Friday note.

“However, calm began to return to markets after President Trump announced a 90-day extension to the reciprocal tariffs, and US officials began to negotiate deals with other countries.”

While in terms of equity returns in local currencies April now appears to have been a relatively muted month, the analysts pointed out that it included numerous milestones. Those include the best day for the U.S. S&P 500 since October 2008 and its worst day since March 2020; the biggest weekly widening in the spread between U.S. 10-year Treasuries and German bund yields in records since German reunification in 1990; the strongest start to the year for gold since 2006; and the worst two-month performance for the U.S. dollar index since 2002.

European stock markets saw a strong start to Friday trade, with the benchmark Stoxx 600 index up 1% at 8:26 a.m. in London.

France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX were both around 1.4% higher, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 rose 0.8%.

Moët Hennessy is reportedly planning to reduce its workforce by over 10% as new leadership seeks to reset performance at LVMH‘s wine and spirits division, according to the FT.

Chief executive Jean-Jacques Guiony and his deputy Alexandre Arnault, who took the reins in February, said they planned to cut the current headcount of 9,400 by around 1,200, taking the total workforce back to 2019 levels.

“This was an organization that was built for a much larger size of business,” Guiony said in an internal video seen by The Financial Times.

Guiony noted that the division’s revenues were currently at 2019 levels but that costs had risen 35% since then, according to the report.

Moët Hennessy did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

LVMH’s wines and spirits saw the sharpest decline in revenues in the first quarter, down 9%, as it flagged lower demand in the U.S. and China for cognac. That comes as the group faces the prospect of higher U.S. tariffs, which would keenly impact sales of popular American imports such as its Moët & Chandon and Krug champagne brands.

— Karen Gilchrist

British bank Natwest reported operating profit of £1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) in the first quarter, up from £1.3 billion a year earlier and ahead of the £1.54 billion expected in an LSEG-compiled analyst poll.

The lender’s net interest margin rose 8 basis points on the prior quarter to 2.27%, while return on tangible equity, a metric measuring profitability, hit 18.5% from 17.5% at the end of last year. It added that it expects to hit the upper end of its income and returns guidance for 2025.

“In the face of increased global economic uncertainty, our customers remain resilient and we saw good levels of activity through Q1 2025,” CEO Paul Thwaite said in a statement.

Read more here.

— Jenni Reid

British oil giant Shell on Friday reported a sharp fall in first-quarter profit, following a period of weaker crude prices.

Shell reported adjusted earnings of $5.58 billion for the first three months of the year, beating analyst expectations of $5.09 billion, according to an LSEG-compiled consensus. A separate forecast from analysts polled by Vara Research had expected Shell’s first-quarter profit to come in at $4.96 billion.

The London-listed company announced another $3.5 billion share buyback program, which it expects to complete over the next three months. It marks the 14th consecutive quarter of at least $3 billion in buybacks, the company said.

The results come as Big Oil profits continue to fall from record highs in 2022. 

Read more here.

— Sam Meredith

Standard Chartered on Friday beat first-quarter profit expectations on the back of strong growth in its wealth management, global markets, and global banking businesses.

The bank’s reported profit before taxation for the three months ended in March was $2.103 billion, up from $1.91 billion in the same period a year ago.

Read the full story here.

Copper rose sharply on Friday after China said it was evaluating the possibility of trade talks with the U.S.

The metal gained for a second day, and was trading 0.89 higher at $9,206 a ton on the London Metal Exchange as at 11.11 a.m. Singapore time.

Meanwhile, iron ore futures in Singapore added 0.42% to $96.60.

China’s consideration of talks with the U.S. is good news for base metals as they have taken a hit from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China.

Experts had previously highlighted that the Asian giant’s copper stockpiles would take a hit if its trade relations with the U.S. remain tense.

— Amala Balakrishner

Bitcoin rose sharply early Friday, reversing its losses from earlier in the week. The cryptocurrency is now fast approaching $100,000 — a threshold it last traded at on February 7.

As at 8.35 a.m. Singapore time, Bitcoin had advanced 0.34% to $96,805.58.