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European Market Updates

European Stocks Close Sharply Lower On Escalating Trade Tensions

By RTTNews Staff Writer   ✉   | Published:   | Follow Us On Google News

European stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday, turning weak once again after having snapped a four-session losing streak on Tuesday. The mood turned bearish U.S. President Donald Trump pushed ahead with higher duties on roughly 60 trading partners that he dubbed the "worst offenders."

The latest set of U.S. tariffs, including a massive 104% levy on Chinese imports, and a 20% levy on European Union imports took effect today. China's finance ministry said it will impose 84% tariffs on U.S. goods from Thursday, up from the 34% previously announced.

Trump also proposed the imposition of a "major" tariff on drug imports in a bid to stimulate domestic drug production and tripled the previously announced tariff rates on low-value packages exported to the U.S. from mainland China and Hong Kong.

The European Commission is reportedly contemplating imposing tariffs of up to 25% on over 22 billion euros worth of American agricultural and industrial exports.

The pan European Stoxx 600 dropped 4.31%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed down 3.54%, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 lost 4.06% and 4.04%, respectively, while Switzerland's SMI settled lower by 4.15%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye all ended with sharp losses.

In the UK market, AstraZeneca Pharma, BP, GlaxoSmithKline, Melrose Industries, Vistry Group, Smith & Nephew, Persimmon, British Land Company, Anglo American Plc, Barclays, Schroders, M&G, Shell, Segro and Intertek lost 4 to 7%.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Natwest Group, Haleon, Frasers Group, Prudential and Reckitt Benckiser were among the several other major losers.

JD Sports Fashion soared 11%. B&M European Value Retail, Fresnillo, Endeavour Mining, 3i Group and Airtel Africa gained 1.3 to 2.7%.

In the German market, Fresenius, MTU Aero Engines, Bayer, Deutsche Bank, Fresenius Medical Care, Merck, Vonovia, SAP, Qiagen, Henkel, Infineon, Sartorius, Deutsche Post, Sartorius, Brenntag, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Siemens Healthineers and Allianz lost 3 to 4.5%.

In the French market, Sanofi lost more than 6%. Unibail Rodamco, Safran, Airbus Group, Saint-Gobain, Stellantis, Kering, TotalEnergies, LVMH, BNP Paribas, Michelin, ArcelorMittal, Essilor and Teleperformance closed down 3 to 5.3%.

Publicis Groupe, Capgemini, Dassault Systemes, Vivendi, L'Oreal, Societe Generale, Thales, Carrefour and Credit Agricole also ended notably lower.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis

Global Economics Weekly Update - April 14-18, 2025

April 18, 2025 13:26 ET
Some key data were released this week amid the escalating tariff war between the U.S. and other countries. Retail sales data from the U.S. revealed that consumers have started to prepare for a future increase in prices and factory activity has started to get hurt due to a fall in export demand. In Europe, the European Central Bank rate decision and inflation data from the U.K. were the highlights. News flow in Asia this week was dominated by the first quarter economic growth data from China.