European stocks clawed their way back from three-week lows on Friday, lifted by gains in financials and industrials.

Dublin

Irish stocks rose on Friday, buoyed by gains in heavyweights such as Kingspan.

But banking shares dipped, with AIB losing 0.65 per cent, and Bank of Ireland down 0.61 per cent by the close of the day.

Shares in insulation specialist Kingspan rose 1.2 per cent after brokerage Citigroup raised its price target.

Glanbia rose 0.57 per cent, while food group Kerry was slightly off the pace, losing 0.1 per cent.

Shares in Ryanair hit a high of €24.18 during the session, before dipping to €24, a 1.6 per cent increase over its opening price.

Shares in construction companies Glenveagh and Cairn Homes also edged lower.

London

The benchmark FTSE 100 gained 0.8 per cent and posted a weekly gain of 0.74 per cent, led by banks and consumer discretionary shares. The mid-cap FTSE 250 rose 0.4 per cent on the day, and was also up 0.4 per cent over the week.

Heavyweight bank stocks rose 1.7 per cent after Citigroup strategists kept their “overweight” recommendation on Europe’s banking sector.

HSBC and NatWest were among its top picks, and their shares were 1.3 per cent and 3 per cent higher, respectively. Travel and leisure stocks added 1.6 per cent, led higher by a 4 per cent gain for InterContinental Hotels Group after JPMorgan double upgraded it to overweight from underweight. IHG was the top percentage gainer on the FTSE 100.

Oil major Shell and BP rose 1.3 per cent and 1.2 per cent, lifting the broader energy index as oil prices climbed on Friday.

The British pharma and biotech subindex rose 0.6 per cent.

Europe

The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.8 per cent, and ended the week just 0.07 per cent higher.

Spanish stocks outperformed other regional markets, rising 1.3 per cent to close at a more than one-week high, with other major indexes also in positive territory.

Germany’s Munich Re and France’s SCOR led European insurer stocks 2.1 per cent higher, snapping a three-day losing streak.

Shares of steel producers also rose after German business daily Handelsblatt reported that the European Commission plans to impose tariffs of 25 per cent to 50 per cent on Chinese steel and related products.

The world’s second-largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal was up 2.6 per cent, while Aperam rose 2.2 per cent. Germany’s Thyssenkrupp added 3.5 per cent and Salzgitter gained 5.2 per cent.

Healthcare stocks reversed earlier losses to end flat.

New York

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes were set to snap a three-week winning streak in a mixed session on Friday, as investors digested the latest inflation data amid expectations of aggressive interest rate cuts.

By lase morning the Dow Jones Industrial Average had risen 213 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 46,160.42. The S&P 500 gained 14.60 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 6,619.32, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 27.02 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 22,357.68.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are on track for their worst weekly performance since late July.

Financials, up about 1 per cent, were among the biggest boosts to the S&P 500 on the day. A 4 per cent gain in Boeing and 1 per cent rise in Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan each supported the Dow.

Shares of truck maker Paccar, which makes most of its trucks for the US market domestically, gained 5.1 per cent to top the S&P 500, a day after US President Donald Trump unveiled fresh import tariffs, including on heavy-duty trucks, branded pharmaceutical products, kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities and upholstered furniture. Drugmaker Eli Lilly rose 1 per cent.

In corporate news, GlobalFoundries jumped 8.7 per cent after a report the US was planning a chip production rule to curb reliance on overseas supply. Costco Wholesale fell 2.6 per cent to the bottom of the S&P 500, after the company reported quarterly results. – Additional reporting: Reuters

The Government has said a deal capping future US tariffs on imports of pharmaceuticals from Europe still stands, despite US president Donald Trump’s latest threats of much higher trade levies targeting the industry.

Mr Trump announced plans to hit pharmaceuticals with a 100 per cent import tax from October 1st, unless drugmakers were building new manufacturing plants in America.

Officials in Brussels and Dublin are assessing where the threat leaves a EU-US tariff deal agreed earlier this year, which limited any coming US tariffs on pharma imports to a 15 per cent cap.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump dropped his latest tariff bombshell, stating the White House would be introducing huge import levies on pharmaceutical products.

“Starting October 1st, 2025, we will be imposing a 100 per cent tariff on any branded or patented pharmaceutical product, unless a company IS BUILDING their pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in America,” Mr Trump wrote. “There will, therefore, be no tariff on these pharmaceutical products if construction has started.”

The US president did not state whether this 100 per cent tariff rate would apply to European trade.

[ Trump’s pharma clampdown threatens ‘dramatic’ fall in Irish corporation tax receipts – ESRIOpens in new window ]

In a statement, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris stressed the transatlantic deal on tariffs remained in place.

“We will be studying the impact of this announcement, which includes a number of exemptions, together with EU colleagues,” he said.

The deal agreed by Mr Trump and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was “absolutely clear” that any US tariffs on pharma imports would be limited to 15 per cent, Mr Harris said.

“This remains the case and underlines again the value of the agreement,” he said.

Mr Trump’s latest salvo drew a modest reaction from investors in morning market trading on Friday. Shares in Denmark’s Novo Nordisk were down 1.5 per cent on the day, but other big pharma groups, such as the UK’s AstraZeneca and Switzerland’s Roche, were broadly flat after initial falls.

The tariff deal saw the EU agree to suck up across-the-board tariffs on future trade with the US. This was done to avoid a full-blown trade war between the two long-standing economic partners.

Officials in the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm that steers trade policy, are confident Mr Trump’s announcement does not mean the EU’s tariff deal has been binned.

A commission spokesman said commitments from the Trump administration to limit any pharma tariffs to a 15 per cent ceiling were clear.

The EU and US would “continue engaging” on the implementation of that deal, “while exploring further areas for tariff exemptions as well as wider co-operation”, the spokesman said.

Ireland is the most exposed state in the EU to tariffs on the pharma sector.

US pharma giants Pfizer, Eli Lilly, MSD and others have large manufacturing plants in the Republic, producing drugs to ship back across the Atlantic. The industry accounts for a huge portion of the State’s exports and trade with the US and contributes a sizeable amount to the corporation tax take.

Mr Trump views tariffs as a way to pressure US multinational companies to relocate manufacturing capacity and jobs to America, often singling out Ireland as a country that “stole” pharmaceutical firms from the US.

[ World economy yet to feel full force of tariffsOpens in new window ]

A situation where tariffs were introduced on medicines and pharma products would be “the worst of all worlds”, a body representing the European pharmaceutical industry said.

Nathalie Moll, head of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, said “urgent discussions” were needed to avoid tariffs on the sector. “Tariffs increase costs, disrupt supply chains and prevent patients from getting life-saving treatments,” she said.

Mr Trump also announced new tariffs on a number of other industries and products.

Imported heavy trucks will be subject to a 25 per cent duty, kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities will be hit with a 50 per cent charge, and upholstered furniture imports are to be taxed at 30 per cent, he said.