European shares close lower despite earnings beats

European markets retreated in late deals, leaving the Stoxx 600 index at a 0.04% loss for the session. Healthcare and technology stocks dragged on Friday, both down around 0.6%, while oil and gas gained 0.66%.

That was despite some strong performers at the top end of the index, including defense firm Saab, up 16% on better-than-expected results, and Vestas Wind, up 15% after it announced a new U.S. contract and analysts at JPMorgan upgraded the stock to “overweight” from “neutral.”

Swedish defence contract Saab shares are up nearly 15%  after the company reported stronger-than-expected profit and sales growth for the second quarter. Read more here.

— Jenni Reid

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser won the Euromoney Banker of the Year 2025 award on Thursday in London.

Fraser, who took on the chief executive role at the Wall Street bank in March 2021, has markedly turned around its fortunes. Citi’s shares hit their highest level since November 2008 this week, after the bank on Tuesday reported bumper profits for the second quarter, beating analyst expectations.

Shares of Burberry are up more than 8% at 11:33 a.m. London time (6:33 a.m. E.T.), after the luxury retailer reported a 4% year-on-year increase in U.S. sales in its fiscal first-quarter results.

CNBC’s Karen Gilchrist reports here on why the figures are a strong signal for the beleaguered company, even as tariff headwinds loom.

Shares of British oil major BP rose 1.8% during early morning deals after the London-listed company announced the sale of its U.S. onshore wind business, BP Wind Energy, to U.S.-based LS Power.

The deal, which comes as part of BP’s $20 billion divestment program, is expected to be concluded by the end of the year.

“We have been clear that while low carbon energy has a role to play in a simpler, more focused bp, we will continue to rationalize and optimize our portfolio to generate value,” William Lin, BP executive vice president for gas and low carbon energy, said in a statement.

“The onshore US wind business has great assets and fantastic people, but we have concluded we are no longer the best owners to take it forward,” he added.

— Sam Meredith

Shares of Saab were last seen trading 10% higher, after the company reported stronger-than-expected profit and sales growth for the second quarter.

— Chloe Taylor

We’re around 15 minutes into the final session of the week, and European stocks are broadly moving higher as trading kicks off.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was last seen 0.3% higher, with most sectors in positive territory.

Among major bourses, the French CAC 40 is leading gains on a jump of 0.5%.

Germany’s DAX and London’s FTSE 100 were last seen trading 0.3% and 0.1% higher, respectively.

— Chloe Taylor

Swedish defense giant Saab reported stronger-than-expected second operating income of 1.98 billion Swedish krona ($200 million) this morning.

It marks a 49% jump from the same period a year ago, and beat the 1.71 billion krona expected by analysts polled by LSEG.

Quarterly sales rose by a better-than-expected 30% year on year.

“We are strengthening our market position and see a continued large interest in our products and solutions,” Micael Johansson, President and CEO of Saab, said in a statement alongside the results. “Saab’s sales growth is high and we continue to invest to build capacity and meet long-term strong demand from the defence sector.”

Saab manufactures a range of military hardware including fighter systems, weaponry and submarines.

— Chloe Taylor