BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks traded sharply higher on Friday while oil prices fell more than 2 percent after U.S. President Donald Trump said a 'great settlement' to end the conflict with Iran has been reached, and that a signing ceremony could take place in Europe as early as this weekend.
Tehran, however, said no final deal has been approved and that disputes over frozen funds and Strait of Hormuz security remain unresolved.
In economic releases, Germany's inflation slowed as initially estimated in May, largely reflecting the slowdown in energy price growth, final data from Destatis revealed.
Destatis confirmed that consumer price inflation weakened to 2.6 percent in May from 2.9 percent in April, which was the highest since December 2023.
Likewise, EU harmonized inflation slowed to 2.7 percent, as estimated, from 2.9 percent a month ago.
In France, consumer prices rose an annual 2.8 percent in May, marking the fastest pace since February 2024, according to the country's statistics agency INSEE.
Elsewhere, the U.K. economy contracted in April due to weakness in the services sector, the Office for National Statistics reported.
Real GDP posted a contraction of 0.1 percent in April, in contrast to a 0.3 percent expansion in March. This was the first monthly fall since August 2025 and also came in line with expectations.
Separate set of data revealed that the U.K.'s visible trade gap fell to GBP 26.05 billion in April from GBP 27.22 billion in March as exports increased amid falling imports.
The pan-European STOXX 600 jumped 1.7 percent to 632.29 after rising half a percent on Thursday.
The German DAX surged 1.9 percent, France's CAC 40 soared 2.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 advanced 1.3 percent.
Banks were broadly higher, with Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and Barclays rising 4-5 percent.
Travel and leisure stocks were moving higher on softer crude oil prices. easyJet, Lufthansa and Air France surged 3-8 percent.
McBride shares plunged 9 percent in London after the private-label cleaning products agent issued a profit warning, citing higher raw material and energy costs.
Kier, a leading infrastructure services, construction and property group, jumped nearly 4 percent on securing a contract extension worth about £140 million from South West Water.
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