European stocks dropped sharply on Monday, deepening a global market rout that kicked off last week following the latest announcements of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs regime.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was 6% lower shortly after the opening bell, with all sectors and major bourses suffering significant losses. Germany’s DAX index was more than 9.5% lower during early deals.
Last week, the regional Stoxx 600 index notched an 8.4% loss, marking its worst week in five years. In the past decade, the Stoxx 600 only performed worse at the beginning the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Trump announced his full list of so-called reciprocal tariffs, with investors surprised by the extent to which imports from key U.S. trading partners would be hit with new duties.
The move also sparked fears of a global trade war, with China retaliating by slapping 34% tariffs on U.S. goods and the EU vowing to impose countermeasures of its own if negotiations with America fail.
On Wall Street, stocks tanked toward the end of last week, with the “Magnificent Seven” mega-cap tech stocks losing more than $1 trillion in a single day. On Friday morning, U.S. stock futures moved lower as the tariffs fallout continued.
Overnight in Asia, stocks also continued to sell off, led by shares listed in China. Asian economies are set to be among those hit hardest by reciprocal tariffs, with Vietnam targeted by 46% duties, China with new 34% tariffs, while Cambodia has been hit with 49% tariffs and Sri Lanka with 44%. Many of the region’s economies play key roles in international firms’ supply chains.
Despite the market reaction, Trump has doubled down on his trade policies. On Sunday, the president told reporters that while he didn’t want markets to go down, “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”
Japanese yen and Swiss franc top hedges against Trump tariffs, according to analysts
Investors are flocking to safe haven assets after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a swathe of reciprocal tariffs last week — and some are looking at the Japanese yen, bonds, as well as a few other “exotic” assets.
“The Japanese yen will be a good — and probably the best — candidate to hide from trade tensions and a U.S. recession, for a whole host of familiar reasons,” said Ebrahim Rahbari, head of rates strategy at Absolute Strategy Research.
— Lee Ying Shan and Lim Hui Jie
A Shell logo in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images News | Getty Images
British oil major Shell trimmed its first-quarter liquefied natural gas production outlook.
In a trading update published Monday, the London-listed company said LNG liquefication volumes would likely reach between 6.4 million and 6.8 million metric tons, down from a previous forecast of 6.6 million to 7.2 million tons.
Shell said first-quarter exploration well write-offs were expected to be around $100 million.
The energy major is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings on May 2.
