European stocks pull back; autos stocks fall over 1%

European markets were lower on Friday after a rocky start to 2025 for stocks around the world.

The Stoxx 600 was down 0.23% by 11:55 a.m. London time, with major regional bourses and sectors mostly trading in negative territory.

Autos stocks led losses, down 1.24% as they extended Thursday’s decline, while travel and leisure stocks shed 1.3%. One of the few sectors to rise was financial services stocks, which were last 0.67% higher.

Oil and gas stocks also rose 0.78%, led by gains for Finnish oil refiner Neste, which climbed 5% and was on course for its best week since October on reports of a series of new airline fuel contracts. The stock was last up 4.5%.

One the other end of the Stoxx 600, Stellantis was down 3.16% after the Italian carmaker reported a 45.7% reduction in car production in 2024 — its lowest output since 1956, according to Reuters news agency.

The pan-European benchmark had closed higher on Thursday after a volatile first trading session of the year.

Investors weighed regional and global political uncertainty that could affect markets and the economy, including political instability in France, upcoming elections in Germany and potential tariffs under U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

U.S. futures were little changed Friday, after another choppy start to 2025. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all ended the day lower; for the latter two, that marked the fifth consecutive session of declines, their longest losing streaks since April.

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed overnight, with Chinese stocks extending declines as investors assessed policy signals from Beijing, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index and South Korean markets were both in positive territory.

On the data front, Turkey’s consumer price index fell to 44.38% on an annual basis in December, down from 47.09% in November. Economists had expected inflation to fall to 45.2%, according to a Reuters poll.

A flash reading of the Polish consumer price index reflected a 4.8% increase in December on an annual basis, also below a Reuters forecast.

Meanwhile, the German federal labor office said the number of unemployed people increased by 33,000 to 2.807 million in December compared to the previous month. The unemployment rate edged 0.1% higher to 6%, the agency added.