Europe-listed stocks moved lower on Thursday, as concern over U.S. trade policy reared its head once again.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.5% lower by 11:31 a.m. in London (6:31 a.m. ET), with all major regional bourses in negative territory.
Retail was a bright spot, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Retail index adding 0.9% in morning trade. Fashion retail giant H&M’s shares surged 8.3% to top of the Stoxx 600, after the company’s third-quarter earnings beat expectations.
H&M share price
Meanwhile, shares of medical technology firms sold off after the Trump administration opened a national security probe into imports of medical devices, robotics and industrial machinery — raising concerns that those goods could be the next target of the White House’s tariffs regime.
Siemens Healthineers shed 4.5%, while Philips was 3% lower. London-based Convatec, which makes various medical devices, moved 4.7% lower.
Convatec share price
In other news, shares of British investment firm Petershill Partners surged more than 33% after the company announced plans to delist from the London Stock Exchange.
Shares of software giant SAP — one of Europe’s most valuable companies — also moved lower on Thursday, losing 1.5% after the European Commission launched an antitrust probe into its practices.
“SAP believes that its policies and actions are fully in line with competition rules. However, we take the issues raised seriously and we are working closely with the EU Commission to resolve them,” SAP said in a statement on Thursday.
“We do not anticipate the engagement with the European Commission to result in material impacts on our financial performance.”
Elsewhere on Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department will release its latest weekly jobs data. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that the cooling labor market was overriding concerns about sticky inflation, prompting the central bank’s first interest rate cut of the year.
Back in Europe, investors were monitoring French and German consumer confidence reports.
In their report on consumer confidence in Germany, published Thursday morning, GfK and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM) said the downward trend in the consumer climate had halted due to improved income expectations.
However, Rolf Bürkl, head of consumer climate at NIM, said that market watchers should approach the data with caution.
“Whether this marks the beginning of a sustained turnaround is more than uncertain. The consumer climate remains at an extremely low level,” he explained in the report. “The geopolitical situation, concerns about jobs, and renewed fears of inflation are likely hinder a thorough recovery at the moment.”
The latest monetary policy update from the Swiss National Bank will also be in focus on Thursday. Switzerland was hit with a shock 39% tariff rate on goods it sends to the U.S. over the summer.
Overnight in Asia, stocks moved higher, while U.S. stock futures were little changed.
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