FRANKFURT: European shares slipped on Friday, weighed down by disappointing earnings, concerns about the impact of US President-elect Donald Trump’s policies on global economies and businesses and a jump in Treasury yields.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index dropped 0.8%, trading just above a three-month low hit earlier this week.
US stocks also lost ground after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said there was no need to rush interest rate cuts, pushing up US Treasury yields and pressuring equities.
“A week of indecision for stock markets is ending on a weaker note following Jerome Powell’s unexpected dialling back of dovish rhetoric,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG.
European equities came under renewed selling pressure this week as investors fretted over US-China relations after Trump was expected to tap a China hawk to be his secretary of state.
European pharmaceutical companies fell on Friday after Trump picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental activist who has spread misinformation on vaccines, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Novo Nordisk fell 5.3%, while Sanofi shed 3.3% and GSK lost 3.9%.
The Swiss benchmark, which houses the bulk of European healthcare firms, declined 1.3%.
Downbeat earnings throughout the week also helped compound market losses.
The technology sub-index dropped 2.7%, with chipmaker ASML among top decliners, after US firm Applied Materials forecast first-quarter revenue below estimates, a sign of sluggish demand for the chipmaking equipment outside of AI-powered chips.
Bavarian Nordic slid 17.4% after the Danish biotech firm posted a lower-than-expected core profit for the third quarter, 2025 orders below expectations.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Gazprom told Austria that it is suspending gas deliveries from Saturday, a gas flow monitoring platform reported, in a development that could signal the end of the last Russian gas supplies to Europe.
Austria is one of the few European countries still dependent on Russian gas as much of the rest of the continent has reduced imports following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Evotec jumped 21% after Halozyme Therapeutics said it has proposed to buy the German drug developer for about 2 billion euros ($2.11 billion).
Generali advanced 4.8% after Italy’s top insurer beat estimates for nine-month profits despite a 930 million euro hit from natural disasters.
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