European stocks edge lower as relief rally stalls amid ongoing trade uncertainty

Austrian central bank chief Robert Holzmann said euro zone interest rates should be held until more clarity emerges on the path of U.S. tariffs and European Union countermeasures.

“We have not seen this uncertainty now for years… unless the uncertainty subsides, by the right decisions, we will have to hold back a number of our decisions, and hence, we don’t know yet in what direction monetary policy should be best moved,” Holzmann told CNBC’s Carolin Roth in an interview at the IMF World Bank Spring Meetings.

Holzmann is widely viewed as one of the most hawkish voting members of the European Central Bank, in favor of a slow approach to easing monetary policy as inflation eases. The ECB’s Governing Council voted unanimously to cut by a quarter percentage point at its April meeting, its seventh reduction in the current cycle, but Holzmann confirmed he took the decision with caution and had seen a need to wait for more data.

Holzmann told CNBC that while various scenarios remained possible with regard to prices and the movement of rates, for the time being the direction was downward.

“Before looking at data in detail, the question is, what kind of political decisions will be taken? Is it that we will have some tariff increases? Is it that we will have strong tariff increases? Is it that we will have retribution by high counter tariffs?”

Overnight index swap pricing on Thursday suggested market expectations for another 25-basis-point rate cut at the ECB’s next meeting in June, taking its key rate to 2%, and another cut of the same size before the end of the year.

— Jenni Reid

Europe is growing despite the current geopolitical challenges, Pierre Gramegna, managing director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), told CNBC on Thursday.

“In many ways the war in Ukraine, the change of [the] American administration I would say is even more than a wake up call,” he told CNBC’s Carolin Roth on the sidelines of the IMF World Bank Spring Meetings.

“So we have to get our act together. There’s a lot of things that we know we have to do, the Draghi report tells us what we have to do in the banking union and the Letta report tells us what we have to do in the savings and investments union. So we know our homework,” Gramegna said, referencing two key reports on the bloc’s competitiveness and future which were published last year.

Gramegna suggested there was now more political willingness to take action, and that there had been a realization, “that if we do not help ourselves…the rest of the world is not going to help us.”

He also expressed concerns about a reduced drive for multilateralism, and called for continued international cooperation amid geopolitical conflicts and tensions.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Germany’s DAX index, home to the country’s largest public companies, was 0.3% lower at 1:57 p.m. Frankfurt time. Wednesday’s trading session saw the DAX gain 3.1%.

Simultaneously, the MDAX index, comprised of German-listed midcaps, shed 0.2%. It put the index on course to end a three-day winning streak.

Chemicals firm Brenntag, down 2.5%, defense giant Rheinmetall, down 1.8%, and airline Lufthansa, down 1.6%, were among the companies seeing the biggest losses in German markets.

— Chloe Taylor

Delivery Hero reported “solid” first-quarter results, showing 5% growth in ecommerce sales.

The company said gross merchandise value, its preferred measure looking at the total value of goods sold, rose to 12.37 billion euros ($14.08 billion) in the first quarter, slightly undershooting investors expectations of 12.38 billion euros.

The company, which operates in more than 70 countries, grew in the Middle East, Europe and central and South America but lost ground in Asia. Analysts have pointed out that South Korea, the single largest market among the geographies that Delivery Hero operates in, has not yet shown signs of improvement.

Delivery Hero said it’s transitioning all its brands worldwide on to its technology platform in order to improve efficiencies.

“By moving its brands to a single global technology platform, Delivery Hero is driving efficiency and speed across the Group,” the company said in a statement. “Glovo will soon complete the move and has already seen double-digit increases in logistics efficiency and ad revenue as a result.”

“Delivery Hero reported a solid start to the year and is on track to meet its unchanged [financial year 2025] guidance,” said Deutsche Bank Analyst Silvia Cuneo.

JPMorgan analysts said they “refreshingly find limited surprises” in the latest results.

The stock paired back steep losses from earlier in the day and was trading down by 2.25% at 12pm London time.

— Ganesh Rao

Acting German economy minister Robert Habeck on Thursday said that the German economy was now expected to stagnate in 2025 — a projection that marks a downward revision of the 0.3% growth forecast made in January.

Growth expectations for 2026 were trimmed slightly to 1%, from a previous 1.1% estimate.

“This mainly has one reason, namely Donald Trump’s trade policies and the effect of the trade policies on Germany,” Habeck said during a press conference according to a CNBC translation, referencing Germany’s heavily export-oriented economy.

He also cited the contribution of recent political turmoil in Germany to the country’s struggling economy.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Consumer goods giant Unilever on Thursday exceeded estimates for first-quarter sales, led by price increases and solid demand for its premium products, and said it expected limited direct impact from tariffs on its business.

The maker of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Hellmann’s mayonnaise reported a 3% increase in underlying sales in the first quarter, topping analysts’ expectations of a 2.8% rise, according to Reuters. It also confirmed its 2025 outlook for underlying sales growth of 3% to 5%.

Shares of Unilever were up 0.5% by 9:55 a.m. London time, recovering earlier losses.

“Heightened global macroeconomic uncertainty is a fact; however, the quality of our innovation programme, the strong investment behind our brands and our improving competitiveness give us confidence we will deliver on our full year plans,” CEO Fernando Fernandez said in a statement.

“The direct impact of tariffs on our profitability is expected to be limited and manageable,” the company added.

It marks the first quarter with Fernandez at the helm after predecessor Hein Schumacher’s surprise ouster in February.

— Karen Gilchrist

Shares of Kering fell on Thursday after the French luxury goods group posted lower than expected first-quarter sales and pointed to further macroeconomic headwinds ahead.

Revenues at the fashion giant plunged 14% year-on-year in the first quarter to 3.9 billion euros ($4.4 billion), according to its Wednesday report, below the 4.01 billion euros forecast by LSEG analysts.

Gucci sales, which make up nearly half of total group revenues, fell 25% on a comparable basis to 1.57 billion euros, as an attempted turnaround of the brand remains underway.

Kering shares were down 6.3% by 9:11 a.m. London time, after trading of the stock was initially halted at the market open. Shares of other luxury group Richemont also fell 1.5% while LVMH and Hermes were 0.9% lower.

— Karen Gilchrist

British fintech firm Revolut on Thursday announced it topped $1 billion in annual profit for the first time, a major milestone for the company as it readies the launch of its U.K. bank later this year.

Revolut, which offers a range of banking and financial services via an app, said that net profit for the year ending Dec. 31, 2024, totaled £1.1 billion ($1.5 billion), up 149% year over year. Revenues at the company increased 72% year on year to £3.1 billion, driven by growth across different revenue streams.

Read the full story here.

Shares of French software firm Dassault Systèmes were down 7% at 8:32 a.m. in London after the company’s first-quarter earnings missed expectations.

In a trading update released Thursday morning, the company said first-quarter revenue grew 4% year-on-year in constant currencies to reach 1.573 billion euros ($1.8 billion).

Analysts had been expecting quarterly revenue to come in at 1.595 billion euros, according to LSEG data.

Net income for the quarter was 260.5 million euros, well below the 320.2 million euros expected by analysts, according to LSEG.

Dassault confirmed its full-year guidance of 6%-8% annual revenue growth, but cut its operating marging outlook for 2025 to 50-70 basis points, from 70-100 basis points.

“Entering 2025, our approach was to provide a risk-adjusted financial outlook. Since then, the introduction of new tariffs has created a more volatile market environment, which could lead to longer decision-making cycles,” Rouven Bergmann, the company’s chief financial officer, said in a statement alongside the results.

— Chloe Taylor

Adidas shares rose by 1.3% after beating growth expectations with sales of 6.15 billion euros ($6.98 billion) for the first quarter of 2025.

Analysts welcomed the 17% organic growth in sales compared to last year during a volatile trading period.

“Overall this is another strong print from adidas and reflects the strong brand heat and continued desirability which makes it slightly more insulated to the external factors,” said Deutsche Bank analyst Adam Cochrane in a note to clients.

“Considering the volatile environment, we think that this print should reassure investors, as it underscores the brand’s broad-based strength and (we presume) positive sell-through trends alongside less markdowns relative to the previous year,” said Metzler analyst Pascal Spano said in a note.

Analysts also pointed out that Adidas’ results stand out amid weak results from competitors.

“Results and company/brand momentum continue to be strong in a tough consumer environment no doubt partly helped by weakness at competitors including Nike and PUMA,” said RBC analyst Piral Dadhania.

— Ganesh Rao

London-listed Anglo American, one of the world’s largest diamond miners, has lowered the production of rough diamonds by 11% to 6.1 million carats in the first quarter, the company said in a trading update.

Anglo said the production decline comes in response to a fall in prices for diamond jewelry in light of tepid demand.

“Consumer demand for diamond jewellery in the United States over the year-end holiday season was in line with expectations, however, rough diamond demand in the first quarter remained subdued as the midstream continued its cautious approach to restocking due to excess loose polished diamond inventory,” the company said in a statement to investors.

“While there were signs of loose polished diamond prices stabilising towards the end of the quarter, lifting industry confidence, ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, in particular the impact of US tariffs, will likely result in continued cautious Sightholder purchases in the near term. We continue to manage the business to preserve cash while maintaining underlying value.”

The company added that it is still “committed” to a sale of its diamond subsidiary DeBeers, “completing at the right time and when market conditions allow.”

Shares have declined by more than 11% in 2025.

— Ganesh Rao

“Bear market rallies are the most violent,” according to Wolfe Research macro strategists Rob Ginsberg and Read Harvey in a note published late Tuesday after Day 1 of the latest market comeback.

Tuesday’s 2.5% gain in the S&P 500 showed internal markers such as breadth and volume that “were extremely strong, but that’s the point of the bear market rally, they make you a believer,” the pair wrote.

Because their analysis of longer-term, weekly and monthly trends “continues to suggest that we are in a bear market,” Ginsberg and Harvey are looking for “a cluster” of signals to shift direction before declaring the bear dead. Those include a turn in the three-month rate of change and for the S&P 500 to climb above short-term resistance levels between 5500 and 5700.

The S&P 500 closed Wednesday at 5,375.86.

— Scott Schnipper

While uncertainty stemming from President Donald Trump’s new tariffs have certainly fanned recessionary fears in recent weeks, the market hasn’t fully bought into the idea, according to Deutsche Bank.

“It’s clear that investors aren’t fully pricing a recession in just yet,” wrote strategist Henry Allen. “After all, the equity declines have been shallower than recent recessions, as have the widening in credit spreads and the declines in oil prices. So markets clearly don’t see a recession as inevitable, particularly if the tariffs don’t come into force after the latest 90-day extension.”

On the flip side, investors not fully pricing in a recession means that stocks could see “significant downside risks” if an economic downturn does indeed materialize.

— Lisa Kailai Han

European markets are expected to open in flat to mixed territory Thursday.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 6 points higher at 8,404, Germany’s DAX flat at 21,933, France’s CAC 2 points lower at 7,475 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 53 points lower at 35,942, according to data from IG.

Earnings are set to come from Unilever, Banco Sabadell, Sanofi, Eni, BNP Paribas and Dassault Systemes. Data releases include French consumer confidence and EU new car registrations.

— Holly Ellyatt