European stocks slipped lower Friday, ending the week on a negative note amid uncertainty as U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline for trade deals draws nearer. 

At 03:05 ET (07:05 GMT), the DAX index in Germany dropped 0.2%, the CAC 40 in France slipped 0.7% and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. fell 0.3%. 

Trading activity is likely to be muted Friday with U.S. markets closed for the Independence Day public holiday.

Uncertainty over trade deals 

European equities, led higher by Wall Street, have been trading around all-time peaks, boosted by optimism that negotiations with the Trump administration will result in a series of trade deals, ending the threat of hefty tariffs that could limit global activity.

However, Trump’s deadline for higher tariff rates looms on July 9, and despite initial confidence from U.S. officials that there would be a flurry of deals, just three have been announced so far.

Additionally, Trump said on Thursday that Washington will begin sending letters to major economies by Friday outlining what tariff rates their exports to the U.S. will be subject to.

Trump added that the tariffs will range between 10% to 20% and 60% to 70%, and that the levies will take effect from August 1. 

The EU is pushing for an “agreement in principle” ahead of July 9, but the European Commission, which is negotiating on behalf of the EU, is bracing for any outcome, including a return to tit-for-tat tariff escalation.

German industrial orders slumped in May 

Data released earlier Friday showed that German industrial orders fell much more than expected in May, dropping by 1.4% on the previous month on a seasonally and calendar adjusted basis. 

The slump was primarily due to the substantial decline of 17.7% month-on-month in orders in the computer, electronic and optical products sector, where several large-scale orders were recorded in April.

Despite the one-off nature of this decline, it does still point to the uncertain nature of the recovery of the eurozone’s largest economy.

The European Central Bank has cut rates by two percentage points since June 2024, but signalled a pause for this month, even if financial investors still see another cut to 1.75% later this year.

Air France-KLM to lift SAS stake

In the corporate sector, Air France KLM (EPA:AIRF) announced plans to increase its stake in SAS to 60.5% from 19.9% by acquiring the full stakes held by Castlelake and Lind Invest.

The group said that the deal would create synergies while allowing it to expand into the Scandinavian market.

French train maker Alstom (EPA:ALSO) said it had received a €2 billion euro ($2.4 billion) order from the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority to supply M-9A railcars for the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad.

Oil prices retreat ahead of OPEC+ meeting

Crude prices slipped lower Friday in thin trading ahead of the weekend’s OPEC+ meeting, which is expected to result in an increase in production.

At 03:05 ET, Brent futures dropped 0.4% to $68.51 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 0.3% to $66.82 a barrel.

Both contracts were up between 1% to 2% this week, bouncing back from double-digit losses during the prior week.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, is expected to once again hike production by 411,000 barrels a day in August, at the weekend’s meeting, following similar hikes in the past three months. 

The production hikes come as the OPEC+ scales back two years of sharp production cuts, in part to offset the economic impact of persistently low oil prices.

Elsewhere, U.S. news website Axios reported on Thursday that the U.S. was planning to meet with Iran next week to restart nuclear talk, while Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran remains committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.