This is CNBC’s live blog covering European markets.
European markets were broadly lower Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday once again threatened to impose 25% tariffs on imports from the European Union.
The Stoxx 600 index was down 0.3% at 12:25 p.m., paring earlier losses, as autos continued to drag by 3.2%. The highly globalized sector was rattled earlier this month by expectations of escalating U.S. trade friction with the rest of the world. Data earlier this week showing a 2.6% year-on-year decline in passenger car sales have further dampened sentiment around the industry.
Ferrari shares meanwhile fell more than 7% after Exor, holding company of Italy’s Agnelli family, announced it had sold around 4% of its stake in the company.
Shares of aerospace and defense firm Rolls Royce jumped 20% after the company upgraded its medium-term targets in its full-year results, recorded higher revenue and profit and reinstated shareholder dividends.
British building materials supplier Howden Joinery was among the worst performers, down 6.7% after narrowly missing full-year revenue expectations despite announcing a new £100 million ($126.7 million) share buyback.
At Trump’s first Cabinet meeting Wednesday, he said that duties against Canada and Mexico would take effect on April 2 and that his trade war will include a 25% tariff on goods from the EU.
“We’ll be announcing it very soon,” he told gathered reporters. “It’ll be 25% generally speaking and that will be on cars and all other things.”
“They’ve really taken advantage of us … They don’t accept our cars, they don’t accept, essentially, our farm products. They use all sorts of reasons why not. And we accept everything of them,” Trump said in his Cabinet meeting.
A European Commission spokesperson told CNBC: “As previously stated, the EU will react firmly and immediately against unjustified barriers to free and fair trade, including when tariffs are used to challenge legal and non-discriminatory policies.”
Investors are also monitoring another earnings bonanza on Thursday, with Daimler Truck, Swiss Re, AXA, Veolia, Metro Bank, WPP, Iberdrola, St. James’s Place, Taylor Wimpey, Man Group, LSEG, Aviva, Telefonica, Teleperformance, Saint-Gobain and EDP all reporting.
Data releases will include the latest Spanish inflation rate, Italian business and consumer confidence data, and euro zone economic sentiment figures.
Europe is a better story than we’ve seen for a while, strategist says
Andrew Pease, chief investment strategist at Russell Investments, on the European outlook amid U.S. President Donald Trump tariff threats, central bank rate-cutting and increasing political certainty.
We can reprice risk ‘well’ following California wildfires, Swiss Re CFO says
Reinsurance giant Swiss Re will assess what happened during California wildfires to feed back a “new vector of risk” to its primary insurer clients, the company’s CFO John Dacey said Thursday.
Swiss Re earlier in the day reported an increase in full-year 2024 net income to $3.2 billion from $3.14 billion, and said it expected preliminary claims from the devastating fires to be less than $700 million, impacting first quarter 2025 results. The total insured market loss from the wildfires was expected to be approximately $40 billion.
“We don’t expect to pull back [from California],” Dacey told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”
“What we expect to be able to do is take a look at what actually happened, make sure that our models for expected losses are correct given the conditions that we saw the state experience in January of 2025, make the adjustments to the model and then feed this back into the primary companies that say, this is a new dimension or new vector of risk.”
Factors including the Santa Ana winds and six months of drought led to a situation in which losses “exploded” during the first 24 to 36 hours, he continued,
“We think we can, in fact, price this risk well, we think we can support the primary companies that are offering insurance in the state of California in the same way we can support insurers that offer private residential insurance in the state of Florida. We just need to be sure the pricing is adequate.”
Analysts at Citi said Swiss Re’s net income was better than expected and that the $700 million wildfire figure was “reassuring.”
Swiss Re shares were 2.5% higher at 11:24 a.m. in London.
— Jenni Reid
Global IPO sentiment subdued but London pipeline improving, LSEG CEO says
Global initial public offerings are “subdued” but London’s pipeline is improving, David Schwimmer said Thursday.
“We have seen on a global basis, a pretty subdued environment for IPOs, and that’s been in New York, that’s been in Hong Kong, etcetera. That’s got a lot of attention,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”
“If you look at the capital raising that has taken place on the London Stock Exchange, not necessarily IPOs but follow-ons, that market is doing very, very well and there’s more capital raised on the London Stock Exchange than the next three European exchanges combined.”
“The pipeline is looking significantly better and we’ve had some IPOs in the tail-end of last year and I expect to see more coming this year,” he added.
The London Stock Exchange has long faced questions about whether it is failing to attract big-name listings, losing more innovative market entrants to the U.S. and keeping tech and growth companies undervalued.
Schwimmer told CNBC: “When you talk about companies that have gone to New York, it’s not such a pretty picture. If you look over the last 10 years, 20 U.K. companies have gone to list in New York and raised over $100 million. Of that 20, four are trading up, something like nine have delisted, and the rest are trading down over 80%. So I think you have to be careful with the narrative of the grass is always greener.”
LSEG on Thursday reported full-year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) up 12.3% to £3.95 billion ($5 billion), with an increase in EBITDA margin to 48.8% from 47.2%. Basic earnings per share fell 7.3%.
— Jenni Reid
Europe stocks open lower
European stock markets were broadly lower Thursday morning, with the Stoxx 600 index down 0.6% at 8:35 a.m. in London.
Germany’s DAX, which had gained more than 2.2% so far this week following Sunday’s federal election, tumbled over 1%. France’s CAC 40 and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 were 0.66% and 0.11% lower respectively.
— Jenni Reid
Rolls-Royce to reward shareholders after making ‘significant’ transformation progress, CFO says
The chief financial officer of Rolls-Royce says the British aerospace group has been able to reinstate shareholder dividends and announce a £1 billion ($1.27 billion) share buyback after making “significant” transformation progress.
Rolls-Royce, which manufactures jet engines for commercial aircraft along with power systems for ships and submarines, upgraded its mid-term guidance after it beat analyst expectations for 2024 by posting a 57% increase in annual profit.
“We are two years into a multi-year transformation journey [and] we’ve made significant progress,” Helen McCabe told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday.
“It’s a culmination of us following through on our promises,” she added, citing the engine-maker’s expanding earnings potential and improving balance sheet.
— Sam Meredith
Aviva ‘ready to invest’ in the UK but urges more clarity
Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc said the insurance giant was ready to invest more in the U.K., but urged further clarity from the government
“We are big investors in the U.K. It’s important for us for the U.K. to do well,” Blanc told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday.
“What we need is the long-term thinking, what are the projects, what is the certainty around those projects. Then obviously the planning — get that bit done. And then we’re ready to invest,” she continued.
Blanc pointed to examples of projects already announced by the ruling Labour government, including the National Wealth Fund and new planning regulation, describing then as critical to spurring growth.
“These are really, really important milestones in terms of allowing us the opportunity to invest,” she said.
Aviva on Thursday posted a 20% annual rise in operating profits to £1.77 billion [$2.24 billion] and said it expected that figure to grow to £2 billion by 2026.
The compan’y shares were up around 1.2% in early trade.
— Karen Gilchrist
Haleon ‘relatively low exposed’ on U.S. tariffs, CEO says
The CEO of British multinational consumer healthcare company Haleon on Thursday said that he expects little negative impact on his business from prospective U.S. tariffs.
“We’re relatively low exposed on tariffs,” Brian McNamara told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” noting that the vast majority of the firm’s U.S. sales derive from domestic production.
McNamara flagged one plant in Canada that could be impacted by President Trump’s planned import levies, as well as several further production plants in Europe, but he said the firm was “working through what that impact might be.”
Haleon, whose products including Sensodyne and Centrum, is also “quite optimistic” about its growth prospects in China, despite the country’s wider macroeconomic dynamics, McNamara said.
— Karen Gilchrist
Vallourec CEO says French manufacturing group is ‘immune’ to U.S. tariff threat
The chief executive of French manufacturing group Vallourec, which produces tubing and pipelines for the energy, industrial and automotive sectors, says the company is well positioned to withstand U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
“The good news for us is that we are American in America. 100% of what we sell on the onshore market, we make it in the U.S., with a fully integrated setup, from steelmaking from scrap to finishing of the pipe,” Vallourec CEO Philippe Guillemot told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday.
“So, obviously we are immune to the tariff that has been announced by the Trump administration and likely one of the benefiters of this decision,” he added.
— Sam Meredith
Haleon ‘relatively low exposed’ on U.S. tariffs, CEO says
The CEO of British multinational consumer healthcare company Haleon on Thursday said that he expects little negative impact on his business from prospective U.S. tariffs.
“We’re relatively low exposed on tariffs,” Brian McNamara told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” noting that the vast majority of the firm’s U.S. sales derive from domestic production.
McNamara flagged one plant in Canada that could be impacted by President Trump’s planned import levies, as well as several further production plants in Europe, but he said the firm was “working through what that impact might be.”
Haleon, whose products including Sensodyne and Centrum, is also “quite optimistic” about its growth prospects in China, despite the country’s wider macroeconomic dynamics, McNamara said.
— Karen Gilchrist
Euro dips against U.S. dollar as trade escalation looms
The euro was 0.12% lower against the U.S. dollar at 7:13 a.m. London time Thursday, after U.S. President Donald Trump said 25% tariffs on the European Union would be introduced “very soon.”
The European Commission said it would respond “firmly and immediately” to any obstruction to legal free trade.
Expectations for a slower pace of U.S. interest rate cuts have boosted the greenback against the euro between October and January, but more recent developments, including hopes of a ceasefire in Ukraine and disappointing U.S. data, have supported the euro.
— Jenni Reid
European markets: Here are the opening calls
European markets are expected to open sharply lower Thursday.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 17 points lower at 8,700, Germany’s DAX down 156 points at 22,632, France’s CAC 35 points lower at 8,108 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 364 points lower at 38,918, according to data from IG.
Investors are also looking ahead to another earnings bonanza on Thursday, with Daimler Truck, Swiss Re, AXA, Veolia, Metro Bank, WPP, Iberdrola, St. James’s Place, Taylor Wimpey, Man Group, LSEG, Aviva, Telefonica, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Teleperformance, Saint-Gobain and EDP all due to report.
Data releases will include the latest Spanish inflation rate, Italian business and consumer confidence data, and euro zone economic sentiment figures.
— Holly Ellyatt
