European markets: stocks, news and data

European markets were on track to retreat when trading opens on Friday amid a rocky start to 2025 for stocks around the world.

Great Britain FTSE 100 it was set to drop about eight points to 8,243 in Germany DAX was on track to fall five points to 19,988 and the French CAC 40 was on course to lose 21 points to 7369. Italy FTSE MIB was last to fall about 107 points to 34,430.

General Europe Stoxx 600 closed higher on Thursday after a volatile first trading session of the year.

Investors weighed regional and global political uncertainty that could affect markets and the economy, including political instability in France, the upcoming German election and potential tariffs under US President-elect Donald Trump.

On the data front in Europe on Friday, investors will watch the latest inflation numbers from Turkey and Poland, as well as unemployment reports from Germany and Spain and mortgage data from the UK.