European stocks slip amid ongoing Mideast tensions, AI trade pause in Stock News 05/06/2026 European stock markets edged broadly lower in early trading on Friday, as investors gauged renewed uncertainty around tensions in the Middle East and a moderate cooling in the red-hot artificial intelligence trade. By 03:16 ET (07:16 GMT), the pan-European Stoxx 600 had slipped by 0.2%, the Dax in Germany had fallen by 0.3%, the FTSE 100 in the U.K. shed 0.2%, and the CAC 40 in the France was mostly unchanged. Clouding over sentiment was Hezbollah’s rejection of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, which has cast fresh doubt around the possibility of a U.S.-Iran peace deal. Tehran, which is aligned with Hezbollah militants, has made a cessation in fighting in Lebanon a key demand in peace negotiations with Washington. Crucially, the stalemate between the U.S. and Iran has left the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway off Iran’s southern coast, effectively closed to tanker traffic, crimping global supplies and threatening to destabilize the world economy. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were last down by 0.2% at $94.85 a barrel, below recent peaks but still well above pre-war levels. In a statement, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem described the U.S.-brokered agreement between Israel and Lebanon earlier this week as “absurd, humiliating, and insulting.” According to the Associated Press, the Hezbollah announcement came as Israeli attacks killed at least four people. Lebanese troops moved into areas of southern Lebanon on Thursday which have been the scene of intense fighting for months, the AP said, citing state media. Beyond the war, markets are assessing an apparent pause in the AI trade, which was partially dented by underwhelming results from chip giant Broadcom earlier this week. Shares of Dutch semiconductor equipment provider ASML fell by 3.0%, while in Infineon in Germany sank by 5% and STMicroelectronics in France retreated by 3.3%. Source: Investing.com 202