City workers in the La Defense business district of Paris, France, on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025.
Nathan Laine | Bloomberg | Getty Images
LONDON — European markets opened lower on Friday, as U.S. tech stock volatility spills over the Atlantic once again.
Shortly after the opening bell, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.75% lower, with almost every sector and major bourse in negative territory.
Looking at individual stocks in Europe, Dutch semiconductor firm BE Semiconductor and chip equipment maker ASMI dropped between 4% and 5% in early trading. ASML, another manufacturer of critical chip-making equipment, fell 4.5%, tracking losses in the wider tech sector.
Headlines around a possible peace deal for Ukraine have also been influencing sentiment in Europe in recent days, with reports suggesting Washington and Moscow have been secretly brokering a peace plan to bring the war to an end — potentially forcing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to make some tough choices.
News agency Reuters reported on Thursday that the peace plan would require Kyiv to concede the entire Donbas region to Moscow and downsize its military.
Zelenskyy, who has previously rejected the notion that his country would give up land to end the conflict, said on Telegram on Thursday night that he had been presented with peace plan proposals from U.S. delegates earlier in the day.
“From the first days of the war, we have upheld one very simple position: Ukraine needs peace. A real peace … with terms that respect our independence, our sovereignty, and the dignity of the Ukrainian people,” he said. “I outlined our key principles. And we agreed that our teams will work on these proposals to ensure it’s all genuine.”
European defense stocks sold off on Friday morning, with the Stoxx Europe Aerospace and Defense index last seen trading 2.8% lower. Germany’s Renk was 9% lower by 8:30 a.m. in London (3:30 a.m. ET), while shares of Rheinmetall and Hensoldt were each down by more than 5%.
Meanwhile, investors across the globe are also digesting Thursday’s long-delayed U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, in the hopes of gauging some clues on the trajectory of American monetary policy. Market expectations of a December rate cut from the Federal Reserve have fallen drastically in recent weeks, with the jobs report — the first since the U.S. government shutdown — painting a mixed picture of the American labor market.
Back in Europe, investors will be awaiting a series of economic data prints, including U.K. retail sales, the HCOB German manufacturing PMI, and S&P Global’s manufacturing figures for Britain.
U.K. defense engineering firm Babcock International will be reporting on its quarterly earnings on Friday.