12:09 PM EDT, 08/01/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The European stock markets closed sharply lower in Friday trading as The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1.8%, Germany's DAX dropped 2.5%, the FTSE 100 was down 0.7%, France's CAC decreased 2.9%, and the Swiss Market Index declined 0.8%.

The annual inflation rate in the euro area was an estimated 2.0% in July, which is unchanged from June, according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the EU's statistical office. Analysts had been expecting 1.9%, according to Bloomberg.

Eurostat said food, alcohol, and tobacco are expected to have the highest annual rate in July at 3.3%, compared with 3.1% in June.

The highest rates were in Estonia at 5.6%, followed by Croatia and Slovakia at 4.5% each. The lowest rates were in Cyprus at 0.1%, followed by Ireland at 1.6%, and Germany at 1.8%.

And in corporate news, shares of Teleperformance fell 20.7% on the Parisian exchange after the company said it cut its 2025 revenue growth guidance to the lower end of the 2% to 4% target it previously expected.

Novo Nordisk said Thursday that the US Food and Drug Administration approved Alhemo as a once-daily prophylaxis to prevent or reduce the frequency of bleeding in adults and children above 12 years with hemophilia A or B without inhibitors.

Shares of Novo Nordisk fell 1.8% in Copenhagen.

Moderna said Friday that the UK Court of Appeal upheld the validity of its EP'949 patent, affirming an earlier court ruling that the patent was infringed by Pfizer and BioNTech's Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine. The company said the patent covers one of its "foundational technologies that enables the development of mRNA-based medicines."

Shares of BioNTech dropped 5.4% in Frankfurt.