European shares surged on Friday as signs of a potential de-escalation of trade tensions between the U.S. and China lifted risk sentiment while investors assess a flurry of corporate earnings and key economic data.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose about 1% as of 0815 GMT after registering its second consecutive monthly drop on Wednesday.
Other regional indexes - Germany, France, Spain, and the UK rose between 0.8% and 1.6%.
China’s Commerce Ministry said that Beijing was “evaluating” an offer from Washington to hold talks over U.S. President Donald Trump’s 145% tariffs and that Beijing’s door was open for discussions.
However, China said Washington needed to show “sincerity” in negotiations and should be prepared to cancel its unilateral tariffs.
“This goes one further step in the direction that tariffs with regards to the U.S. and China have probably seen their peak. So the market is basically saying that this is yet an extra sign that we may see lower taxes going forward,” said Georgios Leontaris, chief investment officer for Switzerland and EMEA at HSBC Global Private Banking and Wealth.
“But again, the market is kind of conscious that uncertainty is likely to linger. And, even though there are positive signs, the market certainly wants to see some concrete actions.”
Shell rose 3.2% after the oil giant reported a 28% drop in first-quarter net profit but beat analyst expectations.
Danske Bank rose 3.5% after Denmark’s biggest lender kept its 2025 profit outlook unchanged as it reported forecast-beating first-quarter profits.
Airbus rose 4.3% after the planemaker topped quarterly estimates across the board and reaffirmed its annual outlook.
ING Groep rose 5.3% after the Dutch bank announced a new 2 billion euro ($2.3 billion) share buyback and reported a better-than-expected first-quarter profit.
European shares edge higher as traders gauge mixed earnings, economic data
Cofinimmo rose 6.7%, the most on the STOXX, after peer Aedifica launched a takeover offer with a ‘significant premium’ on the Belgian real estate investment trust. Shares of Aedifica fell 5.7%.
Euro zone manufacturing output grew at the fastest pace in just over three years in April despite overall factory activity remaining in contraction territory, with the big three economies showing signs of improvement, a survey showed.
Investors will also be on the lookout for April flash inflation data for euro zone expected shortly. U.S. nonfarm payrolls data is also due later in the day.
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