European Stocks Rise in Friday Trading; German, French GDP Grows; Spanish Inflation Drops

12:23 PM EST, 01/30/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The European stock markets were moving higher in Friday trading as The Stoxx Europe rose 0.6%, Germany's DAX gained 0.9%, the FTSE 100 was up 0.5%, France's CAC increased 0.7%, and the Swiss Market Index was moving 0.3% higher.

In Germany, gross domestic product grew 0.3% in Q4 from Q3, adjusted for price, seasonal, and calendar effects, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

"This meant that the German economy ended 2025, a year that was particularly turbulent for foreign trade, with positive results," Destatis said in a statement.

Destatis also reported that 1.60 million people were unemployed in December, which was 13% more than a year earlier. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose 3.6%, up from 3.2% a year earlier.

And the German inflation rate is expected to be 2.1% in January, compared to the same month of the previous year.

In France, gross domestic product in volume terms decelerated in Q4, growing 0.2%, after rising 0.5% in Q3.

In Spain, the flash estimate of the consumer price index declined to 2.4% in January from 2.9% in December, according to the Spanish Statistical Institute. The annual rate of the flash indicator of underlying inflation was 2.6%.

And in corporate news, Deutsche Bank money-laundering raids by German prosecutors this week were triggered by a previous undisclosed investigation, confirming remarks by Chief Financial Officer James von Moltke, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing the authorities.

Frankfurt authorities searched the bank in May 2025 and seized documents that later revealed leads to open a fresh probe against the bank, resulting in raids in Frankfurt and Berlin earlier this week, the agency's spokesperson reportedly told Bloomberg.

Von Moltke said Thursday during an earnings call that the recent investigation "actually builds on earlier investigations of a very similar nature," according to the report.

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

Deutsche Bank shares rose 2.6% in Frankfurt.

HSBC is resuming services in Hong Kong hours after a temporary system breakdown left its mobile application and certain online services unavailable Friday afternoon, the South China Morning Post reported the same day, citing customers and a bank employee.

A spokesperson from HSBC confirmed to MT Newswires that all banking services have been restored after the outage, but did not disclose the reason behind the system breakdown.

Shares of HSBC gained 1.2% in London.

AstraZeneca said early Friday it will pay $1.2 billion to CSPC Pharmaceuticals to advance multiple therapies for obesity and type 2 diabetes across eight programs.

CSPC is eligible to receive development and regulatory milestones of up to $3.5 billion across all programs, AstraZeneca said. It will also be eligible for further commercialisation and sales milestones as well as tiered royalties.

The companies will initially progress four programs, deploying CSPC's artificial intelligence-driven peptide drug discovery platform and its proprietary LiquidGel once-monthly dosing platform technology, according to the statement.

Shares of the British pharmaceutical company gained 1% in London.

Rio Tinto said Thursday that it and Aluminum Corporation of China have agreed to acquire Votorantim's 68.6% controlling stake in Companhia Brasileira de Aluminio for $902.6 million in cash.

Under the agreement, the majority interest will be acquired through a joint venture, 33% of which will be held by Rio Tinto and 67% owned by Chalco, the company said.

Shares of the mining company dropped 1.6% in London.

ArcelorMittal said Friday it signed an amendment to its mineral development agreement with Liberia to extend the duration of the partnership until 2050.

The deal includes a $200 million payment to Liberia's government for mining rights and reserved access to rail infrastructure that the company is currently expanding, ArcelorMittal said.

Shares of ArcelorMittal were moving 0.5% higher in Paris.

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