European Equities Stumble as Inflation Rises to 1.9%

By Investors Hub

European stocks have moved mostly lower on Friday on renewed trade worries after President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth and China pledged to retaliate with tariffs of its own.

While the French CAC 40 Index is nearly flat, the German DAX Index is down by 0.5 percent and the U.K.?s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.9 percent.

Novartis has moved higher after its unit Sandoz has announced the presentation of two long-term, Phase III studies: one each for biosimilar Zessly or infliximab and biosimilar Erelzi or etanercept.

Dassault Systèmes has also risen in Paris after the company said it is initiating a 2018-2023 plan to double its non-IFRS earnings per share.

Tesco shares have rallied after the retailer delivered positive like-for-like sales growth for a tenth consecutive period in the first quarter.

Rolls Royce Holdings has also soared. The jet-engine manufacturer said that it is well placed to exceed free cash flow of 1 billion pounds by 2020.

On the other hands, shares of H&M Group have slumped after the clothing group reported muted second quarter sales growth.

Meanwhile, German lender Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank have fallen as government bond yields extend declines on the back of dovish signals from the ECB.

Miner and commodities trader Glencore has also dropped in London after settling a legal dispute in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Regional automakers are trading mixed after industry data showed European passenger car sales grew only 0.8 percent year-on-year in May, following a 9.6 percent spike in April.

In economic news, Eurozone consumer prices increased as estimated in May, final data from Eurostat revealed.

Inflation rose to 1.9 percent in May from a revised 1.3 percent in April. A similar high rate was last seen in April 2017. The latest rate matched the initial estimate released on May 31st.

Germany’s central bank downgraded its growth outlook for this year as exports and business investment are expected to be less strong. The economy is forecast to grow 2 percent this year instead of the 2.5 percent projected in December.

Meanwhile, the projection for 2019 was raised to 1.9 percent from 1.7 percent.