La cleaver of the tariffs announced last night by Donald Trump has knocked down today on the financial markets, which close a Black Thursday in Europe (after the Asian losses), while Wall Street Takes a Midday Dive. The dollar and oil also collapse, fearing a trade war that could trigger a global recession and fuel inflation.
Europe in red, Milan the worst
The day's balance of the European stocks are deeply negative and if yesterday we could hope for an exit from uncertainty after Trump's announcements, today we must note that risk aversion has instead increased significantly, also because theunknown of the tortuous path of negotiations between the White House and the various countries.
Piazza Affari is the worst in the Old Continent, and closed with a loss of 3,6% which brought the Ftse Mib back to 37.070 basis points. Oil stocks are weighing heavily on the price list (Tenaris -9,85%) and the banks (Understanding -6,96%). It falls back heavily Paris -3,31%, with luxury stocks recovering from a barrage of sales. The losses are heavy at Frankfurt -2,94% Amsterdam -2,67% Madrid -1,08%. Off the bat London -1,59%, with Great Britain being hit by reciprocal duties of 10%.
The UEuropean Union will instead be “punished” with tariffs of 20% starting April 9 and is evaluating countermeasures (not only duties) that will come into effect from April 15. The American duties will not apply at the moment to some goods, including pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, energy, while the 25% tax on cars started today. The estimate is that approximately 70% of the exports to the United States will be burdened by these taxes, for a value of 360 billion-370 billion euros. The total customs duties that the US is destined to collect on EU exports will be just over 81 billion.
READ MORE: Stocks, today's live broadcast April 3
Wall Street Sells Storm, Nike and Apple Collapse
The financial skies are filled with storms even in New York where the Nasdaq yields 5,01%, the S & P 500 loses 3,98%, the Dow Jones 3,36%. The index of medium-sized enterprises, the Russell 2000, sinks by 5,86%.
Among the stocks, losses are particularly heavy for Nike (-4%) that produces half of the shoes in Vietnam, hit hard by duties (46%). Apple (-8%) is losing approximately $250 billion in market value.
In these hours of panic, the words of the White House spokeswoman are not enough for investors, Caroline Levat who, from the screens of CNN, tells them "Trust Donald Trump. This is the beginning of the golden age. The United States will no longer be screwed by other nations."
Economists' forecasts are of a completely different nature. For Mark Haefele, chief investment officer of UBS Global Wealth Management, ”even if tariffs are reduced by the end of the year, the short-term shock and associated uncertainty will likely cause a near-term slowdown in the U.S. economy, reducing overall growth in 2025 to around or below 1%.”
Dollar in free fall
Il dollar is in free fall after Trump's tariffs turned out to be worse than expected. TheHandle reports that, in the new scenario, traders are now betting on four cuts by the Fed this year versus the previous two. They are “convinced that Donald Trump's trade war will backfire on the American economy.” Government bond prices are soaring and the 10-year bond is seeing a yield down to just over 4%.
Investors, after having thrown themselves into the night on gold (when spot gold peaked at $3167,71 per ounce), they then sought refuge mainly in the Swiss franc and the yen, but also in theeuro, which is currently strengthening by more than two percentage points against the greenback to an exchange rate of 1,109. Petroleum looks with great concern at the demand for crude oil, in a context in which the economy should slow down. Texas crude, delivery May 2025, loses 7,18%, for a price below 67 dollars a barrel. Brent, June 2025, loses 6,66% and slips below 70 dollars a barrel.
Piazza Affari, utilities and Leonardo rise
On the shivering day to defend the price list they have provided once again the utility starting from Terna + 3,73% Italgas + 3,64% A2a + 3,5% Snam + 3,56% Enel + 2,73%.
It also bounces Leonardo +3,32%, which sees new business opportunities in the tearing of the Atlantic umbrella with European rearmament.
Bene Telecom + 1,59%.
I the discounts are very heavy for Tenaris, Saipem -9,02% stm -8,32%. The banks are all in the red and the worst are the big ones: Intesa and Unicredit -6,96%.
Il auto sector, on which US tariffs of 25% will start today, suffers with Stellantis -8,06%. The stock has been up and down for much of the session, before hitting the ground, even as the company continues to engage with the U.S. administration. “Immediate actions we must take,” a note says, “include temporarily suspending production at some of our Canadian and Mexican assembly plants, which will impact some of our U.S. powertrain and stamping facilities that support those operations.”
Il luxury retreats also in Milan starting from cucinelli -7,65%.
Spread, yields fall
The closing is in the red for the Italian paper, which suffers the better performance of the German one. spread between BTPs and Bunds of 113-year duration rises to 3,77 basis points, but in a context of yields falling to 2,64% and XNUMX% respectively.
Today in the minutes of the ECB meeting of 5-6 March it says that "the export outlook and the direct and indirect impact of tariffs are a major cause for concern". Governors have therefore shown doubts about the signal to give on interest rates. The members of the Governing Council have considered it "important" to avoid any signal in the communication in view of the April meeting, "keeping both a rate cut and a pause on the table, depending on the incoming data".
