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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.”<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The European Commission is reportedly contemplating imposing tariffs of up to 25% on over 22 billion euros worth of American agricultural and industrial exports.<\/p>\n
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%.<\/p>\n
Among other markets<\/span> 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.<\/p>\n 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%.<\/p>\n Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Natwest Group, Haleon, Frasers Group, Prudential and Reckitt Benckiser were among the several other major losers.<\/p>\n JD Sports Fashion soared 11%. B&M European Value Retail, Fresnillo, Endeavour Mining, 3i Group and Airtel Africa gained 1.3 to 2.7%.<\/p>\n 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%.<\/p>\n 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%.<\/p>\n Publicis Groupe, Capgemini, Dassault Systemes, Vivendi, L’Oreal, Societe Generale, Thales, Carrefour and Credit Agricole also ended notably lower. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Market Analysis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n