European stocks lower as ceasefire optimism fades; SAP surges 5% on profit beat
European stock markets opened broadly lower on Friday, as uncertainty over a potential U.S.-Iran peace deal weighs on investor sentiment.
ShanonG
A bear statue stands outside the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on April 7, 2025 in Frankfurt, Germany.
Florian Wiegand | Getty Images
European stock markets traded lower on Friday morning, as uncertainty over U.S.-Iran peace talks weighed on investor sentiment.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 0.5% shortly after 1:45 p.m. in London (8:45 a.m. E.T.), with most regional sectors and major bourses in negative territory. Technology stocks led the gains, rising 1.7% in early afternoon dealmaking. Mining stocks saw the largest losses, sliding almost 1.8%.
Shares in SAP surged about 5.3% in afternoon trade after the German multinational enterprise software giant announced a rise in operating profits of almost 17%, and a 19% jump in cloud revenues, in its latest quarterly earnings.
SAP CEO Christian Klein told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Friday that the company is "uniquely positioned to win in business AI" adding that it will "double down and reinvest" more money into AI innovation.
Renault shares, meanwhile, went into reverse, sliding 2.8% after the French carmaker said its first-quarter sales were 3.3% lower than the same three-month period last year. Its group revenues rose 7.3% in the period, however, reaching 12.5 billion euros ($14.6 billion).
Investor attention remains focused on developments in the Middle East. On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters, "don't rush me," when questioned on a long-term deal with Iran. He also said he won't put a "timetable" on when the war will end.
Overnight, it was reported that U.S. forces had boarded and searched another tanker thought to be carrying Iranian oil through the Indian Ocean.
Oil prices edged higher on Friday, with global benchmark Brent crude futures adding 0.5% to reach $105.65 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were marginally higher at $96.12, a 0.4% increase.
iframe src="https://www.art19.com/shows/4420ff26-c17c-4c28-a654-a663d4bcbf60/episodes/c6f9c2ea-84e4-46af-9d22-68e5d0f8bf3e/embed" style="width: 100%; height: 200px; border: 0 none;" scrolling="no" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox">
Back in Europe, investors monitored another flurry of corporate earnings, with Eni, Orange, and Volvo among the firms updating shareholders on their finances.
U.K. retail sales increased 0.7% in March, according to new Office for National Statistics data, outweighing the 0.1% forecast by economists. In Germany, meanwhile, the Ifo Institute's monthly business climate index fell to 84.4 in April — its lowest level since May 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic — suggesting the Iran war is now weighing heavily on the country's economic outlook.
French consumer confidence in April dipped to its lowest level in almost three years, according to data published by France's national statistics bureau, INSEE.
