European Stocks Close Mostly Lower in Monday Trading; UK GDP Rises 1.3% in Q3

12:12 PM EST, 12/22/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The European stock markets closed mostly lower in Monday trading as the Stoxx Europe was down 0.1%, Germany's DAX gained 0.03%, the FTSE 100 was off 0.30%, France's CAC dropped 0.37%, and the Swiss Market Index lost 0.06%.

In the UK, real gross domestic product rose an estimated 1.3% in Q3, compared with a year earlier. Compared with Q2, GDP edged 0.1% higher.

And in corporate news, British pharmaceutical company GSK has signed an agreement with Samsung Biologics' US subsidiary to sell Human Genome Sciences for $280 million, the South Korean company said Sunday.

Samsung Biologics America will acquire Human Genome Sciences and its assets in Rockville, Maryland, with the deal expected to close by the end of Q1 2026.

Shares of GSK were down 0.7% in London.

Telefonica will incur a cost of 2.5 billion euros ($2.94 billion) for the layoffs of about 5,500 staff, according to a company regulatory filing on Monday.

The company said it has reached an agreement with trade unions to execute exit plans that will result in average annual cost savings of around 600 million euros starting 2028.

Shares of the Spanish telecommunications operator were little changed in Madrid.

AstraZeneca said Monday the first patient was dosed in the phase 3 Destiny Endometrial trial testing Enhertu as treatment after surgery for endometrial cancer.

The study is comparing Enhertu with or without radiotherapy versus standard chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy, the company said.

Shares of the British pharmaceutical company were off 0.3% in London.

Eli Lilly has entered early discussions with French authorities to explore a possible acquisition of biotech firm Abivax, La Lettre reported Monday, according to Google-translated text of the report.

The US drugmaker held preliminary talks with France's Treasury in early December to assess whether a takeover of Abivax would fall under the country's foreign investment screening rules, the report said.

Lilly didn't immediately respond to MT Newswires' request for comment.

Shares of Abivax surged nearly 16% in Paris.

Equinor said Monday that the Snohvit Future project in Norway has been postponed, and cost estimates have increased.

Onshore compression at the project is now expected to begin in 2029, one year later than the original plan, Equinor said.

The cost estimate for the project has been increased to over 20 billion Norwegian krone ($1.98 billion) from an original cost estimate of 13.2 billion krone in 2022, Equinor said.

Equinor Energy owns 36.79% of the project, with the remaining held by Petoro, TotalEnergies' Norwegian unit, Var Energi, and Harbour Energy Norge.

Shares of the Norwegian petroleum refiner dropped 0.8% in Oslo, while TotalEnergies shares gained 0.2% in Paris.

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