The City of London skyline at sunset.
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European equities traded lower on Friday, as trade and the economy remained in focus.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended the day down 0.04%, with sectors in mixed territory.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who made a state visit to the U.K. this week, held a much-anticipated call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday. It comes after U.S. and Chinese negotiators reached a framework deal on TikTok’s U.S. business at talks in Madrid, Spain, this week.
Regional shares ended Friday’s session lower, putting the Stoxx 600 index on course to end the week unchanged.
Looking at individual European stocks, shares of Maersk — a bellwether for global trade — shed 5.9%, while logistics firm Kuehne + Nagel ended Friday 9.1% lower.
The moves came ahead of Trump’s call with Xi, which took place a day after Canada and Mexico vowed to deepen bilateral trade ties. Both countries are grappling with the White House’s punitive tariffs on their goods.
Meanwhile, hopes of the U.K. lowering tariffs on its steel and aluminum tariffs were dashed when no talk of a breakthrough came out of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s meeting with Trump on Thursday.
Meanwhile, German tyre manufacturer Continental fell 2.49% after the spin-off of its car parts division, Aumovio, on Thursday.
Continental share price
In the U.K., data out Friday showed that government borrowing surged in recent months, with public sector rising by £11.4 billion ($15.4 billion) more than projected between April and August. It marked the second-highest public sector borrowing for that period since records began in 1993, with only 2020 — the height of the Covid-19 pandemic — notching a higher April to August borrowing bill.
U.K. government borrowing costs rose in the wake of the data release, with the yield on longer-maturity 20 and 30-year gilts adding 4 and 5 basis points, respectively.
Overnight in Asia, stocks traded mostly higher, with investors reacting to the Bank of Japan making no changes to interest rates. On Wall Street, U.S. stock futures were flat after the major averages hit fresh all-time highs on Thursday.
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Continental shares fell on Friday. An earlier version of this story incorrectly cited a share price rise based on the data available at the time of publication.