By Joao Manuel Vicente Mauricio, Ankika Biswas and Pranav Kashyap
(Reuters) -European stocks fell across the board, led by automakers, as Donald Trump's tariff threat on the United States' largest trading partners prompted worries about another global trade war.
U.S. President-elect Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, plans to impose a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and slap "an additional 10% tariff, above any additional tariffs" on China, hurting the positive market sentiment following the nomination of Scott Bessent as U.S. Treasury secretary. The dollar rose, while global equity markets declined. [MKTS/GLOB]
"We've seen this movie before and it's going be negotiating tool, however we can't dismiss it entirely because this time Trump has full support of both the houses" of the U.S. Congress, said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Group.
"Investors have learned something from before and jumping like a frightened cat at every Trump headline is not going to be the way to get through this."
The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.5%, snapping a three-day winning streak, with concerns over tariffs re-stoking global inflation and weighing on monetary-policy easing also dampening investors' mood.
China-exposed stocks were the most affected on the index.
The auto sector, expected to be among the worst hit under Trump tariffs, was down 1.6%, with Stellantis (NYSE:STLA) and Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p) among the top losers, shedding 4.8% and 2.4%, respectively.
Retail and miners were some of the other badly hit sectors, down 1% and 1.9% respectively, with the latter taking a hit on weak metal prices. [MET/L]
"European carmakers have seen clear weakness in their sales over the past few years and they have also been in the crossfire with the Chinese trade tensions... They are no longer in a position to afford additional tariffs," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
The European Central Bank's policymakers also are concerned about Trump tariffs.
The momentum in European stocks has stalled in the final stages of the year as investors grapple with the likely impact of trade tariffs, sagging Chinese spending and heightened geopolitical tensions, among other factors.
After hitting record highs earlier in 2024, the STOXX 600 is up just 6% this year, much behind the over 25% gains in the U.S. S&P 500.
Among specific stocks, Avolta fell 5.4% to the bottom of the STOXX 600 after Barclays (LON:BARC) downgraded the Swiss duty-free retailer's stock to "underweight" from "overweight".
Amundi lost 5.3% after two brokerages cut their rating to "neutral".
Meanwhile, Melrose (LON:MRON) Industries led gains on the STOXX 600, rising 7.7%, after J.P. Morgan upgraded its target price on the aerospace part maker's stock.