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Europe close: Stocks saddled with heavy losses going into Easter
Stocks extended their steep declines from the previous session going into the holiday-shortened Easter week, although they did come off their lows for the day as some analysts argued that the immediate escalation in global trade tensions had not been as bad as feared.
Also giving the main share indices a lift in back-half of the session were better-than-expected readings on US durable goods orders and new home sales for the month of February, although late gains in the euro saw the Dax fall back after an intra-day rally.
Against that backdrop, at the closing bell the Stoxx 600 was standing 0.90% below the previous day's closing value, at 365.82, alongside a 1.77% or 213.77 point drop on the German Dax to 11,886.31.
The FTSE Mibtel on the other hand lost just 0.49% or 108.74 points to end at 22,289.10.
In parallel, euro/dollar was 0.39% ahead to 1.2368.
Overnight, the White House had opened the door to tariffs on at least $50bn of Chinese-made goods, alongside other measures, although in a somewhat unexpected move it left the door open to negotiations with Beijing, even as China responded to previous American levies on steel and aluminium with its own $3bn-worth of measures on American goods.
That prompted analysts at Nomura to tell clients, "Taken altogether, trade risks remain a point of concern for our economic outlook. However, the weakening steel and aluminium tariffs, softer-than-expected Section 301 announcement against China, and a slightly brighter outlook for NAFTA indicate that perhaps trade tensions are not quite as high as previously assumed."
On the other hand, despite the measured response from China and Washington's somewhat less aggressive than expected stance, according to Bloomberg Stephen Roach, Morgan Stanley's ex-chief economist, said: "China's response is surprisingly modest in light of the US actions, suggesting there could be a good deal more to come.
"As America's third largest and most rapidly growing export market and as the largest foreign owner of Treasuries, China has considerably more leverage over the U.S. than Washington politicians care to admit."
Also weighing on sentiment at the end of the week was another change in the top ranks of the US administration, with the White House replacing national security adviser HR McMaster with John Bolton, one of the more controversial proponents of the Iraq war.
No major economic releases were expected on the Continent on Friday.
However, in the US the Commerce Department reported that orders for durable goods in the US jumped by 3.1% last month (consensus: 1.6%), while sales of new homes dipped by 0.6% to an annualised pace of 618,000 (consensus: 620,00) alongside upwards revisions to January's data.
Still ahead for later in the session was a speech from the Boston Fed's Rosengren, at midnight.