Europe stocks close lower, Germany's DAX pares losses as Merz elected chancellor; FTSE 100 maintains record run

European stock markets closed lower on Tuesday, with the regional Stoxx 600 index falling 0.18% to snap a run of 10 sessions in the green.

Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 both closed around 0.4% lower. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 eked out a 0.01% gain to maintain its record-winning run.

Stoxx 600 index.

Friedrich Merz was elected as Germany's chancellor in a second-round parliamentary vote, after failing to secure the necessary support earlier in the day.

Merz needed at least 316 of the 630 members of parliament to vote in his favor. He received 325 votes.

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— Sophie Kiderlin

The United Kingdom and India struck a bilateral trade agreement, lowering tariffs on key exports such as U.K. whisky and cars, amid a global trade war initiated by the United States.

The deal will see India gradually lower taxes on imports from the U.K., with the vast majority of goods traded becoming "fully tariff-free within a decade," according to the British government.

Exports from the U.K., such as whisky and gin, will see tariffs halved from 150% to 75%, before reducing to 40% within a decade under the agreement. Meanwhile, many automotive tariffs will be cut sharply from over 100% to 10%, the government added.

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— Ganesh Rao

Friedrich Merz failed to get the majority needed to become German chancellor in a parliamentary vote Tuesday.

Merz needed at least 316 votes to become chancellor and only 310 members of parliament voted in his favor.

The German Dax stock market index extended losses after the result to trade around 1% lower by 9:30 a.m. London time.

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— Sophie Kiderlin

European stocks opened slightly higher, with most sectors and Britain's FTSE 100 index in positive territory.

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index traded up 0.1% shortly after the opening bell, with oil and gas stocks among those leading the gains.

— Sam Meredith

High-end German retailer Hugo Boss posted a lower-than-feared decline in first-quarter sales and reiterated its full-year guidance despite macroeconomic and tariff uncertainty.

Revenues fell 2% on a currency adjusted basis over the three month period to 999 million euros ($1.13 billion), slightly ahead of the 979 million euros forecast by analysts in an LSEG poll.

Weaker sales were led primarily by soft demand in the Asia-Pacific region, and specifically "ongoing subdued consumer demand in China," which the company attributed to a weaker consumer outlook.

"Following a strong finish to 2024, our performance in the first quarter of 2025 was affected by the rising macroeconomic uncertainty, which impacted global consumer sentiment and our industry," CEO Daniel Grieder said in a statement.

The group nevertheless confirmed its 2025 outlook, forecasting full-year sales to be in line with last year's at between 4.2 billion euros and 4.4 billion euros. It added that it is continuing to monitor the economic outlook, after Grieder noted in March that global trade tensions had already had a visible impact on first-quarter demand.

"We are closely monitoring macroeconomic developments and remain vigilant in light of the elevated uncertainties, including the current tariff discussions," he added.

— Karen Gilchrist

U.S.-based DoorDash will acquire London-listed online food delivery firm Deliveroo in a £2.9 billion ($3.9 billion) deal.

The deal values Deliveroo shares at 180 pence a piece, 44% higher than its share price as of April 4, the last trading day before the bid.

"I could not be more excited by the prospect of what DoorDash and Deliveroo will be able to accomplish together. We'll cover more than 40 countries with a combined population of more than 1 billion people, enabling us to provide more local businesses with the tools and technology they need to thrive," said Tony Xu, CEO and Co-founder of DoorDash.

Read the full story here.

— Ganesh Rao

Online fashion retailer Zalando on Tuesday posted stronger-than-expected first-quarter sales and confirmed its full-year guidance.

Revenues for the three-month period ended March 31 came in at 2.42 billion euros ($2.74 billion), slightly above the 2.36 billion euros forecast by analysts in an LSEG poll. The retailer's number of active customers also rose to a new high of 52.4 million.

Zalando confirmed its full-year guidance despite what it said was "a fast-changing geopolitical and macro-economic environment," though it gave no direct mention of tariffs.

The Berlin-headquartered company said it expects both gross merchandise volume (GMV) and revenue to grow between 4% to 9% this year compared with 2024 and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes to reach between 530 million euros and 590 million euros.

It comes after Morgan Stanley on Friday downgraded the stock while maintaining its price target of 28.50 euros on increased online competition and macroeconomic challenges, including the impact of tariffs.

Zalando

Asian currencies weakened Tuesday as the U.S. dollar clawed back two days of declines.

The U.S. dollar index moderately edged up following data from the Institute for Supply Management showing stronger-than-expected service sector activity in April despite concerns over the impact of tariffs.

As at 11.32 a.m. Singapore time, the Taiwanese dollar had depreciated 3.2% against the greenback to 30.093. This follows strong gains in the currency in the previous session when it hit a three-year high.

The Australian and Singapore dollar - which had also seen gains on Monday following a reelection of their incumbent governments - depreciated sharply.

The Australian dollar weakened 0.15% against the greenback to 0.6467, while the Singapore dollar depreciated 0.26% to 1.2897.

Meanwhile, the offshore Chinese yuan depreciated 0.28% to 7.220.9.

Elsewhere in the region, the Japanese yen was little changed while the Malaysian ringgit weakened 0.93%.

— Amala Balakrishner

U.S. stock futures were flat Monday night.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 dipped less than 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.2%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were just above the flatline.

— Hakyung Kim