European shares drop amid U.S.-Iran standoff in Stock News 24/04/2026 European stocks slipped on Friday, as hopes for an imminent deal to end the Iran war cooled and concerns lingered over oil supply disruptions. By 03:04 ET (07:04 GMT), the pan-European Stoxx 600 had fallen by 0.4%, the Dax in Germany had dipped by 0.1%, the CAC 40 in France had shed 0.4%, and the FTSE 100 in the U.K. had declined by 0.4%. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday a three-week extension to a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon following a meeting with diplomats from both countries. However, representatives from Hezbollah, the militant group fighting in Lebanon, were not at the talks, casting some doubt over the longevity of the truce. Earlier this week, Trump also unveiled an indefinite ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, but maintained an American blockade of Iranian ports. Uncertainty has surrounded the fragile halt to hostilities. Tehran responded to the U.S. blockade by moving to demonstrate its grip over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for roughly a fifth of the world’s oil, attacking several ships in the conduit. The U.S. has also seized Iranian-flagged vessels and Trump has said he has ordered the Navy to “shoot and kill” Iranian boats attempting to lay mines in the strait. With scant indications that the strait will be reopened soon, oil prices have risen back above $100 a barrel, threatening to exacerbate fears over a spike in inflation and a slowdown in global growth. Along with developments in the Middle East, investors have also been keeping tabs on a bevy of corporate earnings in Europe. Shares of SAP climbed by more than 5% after the German software group posted a 17% jump in first-quarter profit that topped estimates, thanks largely to strength at its cloud division. Source: Investing.com 2026-04-24 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share