European markets slipped on Friday<\/strong>, capping off a turbulent week dominated by U.S. tariff policy swings<\/strong> and growing anxiety over the economic fallout of the escalating U.S.-China trade war<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At 07:58 GMT<\/strong>, the pan-European STOXX 600<\/strong> index edged 0.3% lower<\/strong>, retreating from early gains. The index remains close to a 1.5-year low<\/strong> after U.S. President Donald Trump<\/strong> first imposed, then partially rolled back, sweeping tariffs\u2014moves that sent shockwaves through global markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Friday\u2019s early optimism faded after China announced a tariff hike on U.S. goods to 125%<\/strong>, in response to Trump\u2019s earlier decision to increase tariffs on Chinese imports to 145%<\/strong>. The 90-day tariff suspension Trump granted to other countries explicitly excluded China<\/strong>, further intensifying the standoff between the two economic powerhouses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe 90-day pause is only a temporary window, and a fragile one at that,\u201d said Nick Saunders<\/strong>, CEO at Webull UK<\/strong>. \u201cMany countries are now lining up to strike trade deals, and not all will get what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Across Europe, markets showed mixed performance<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The EU has so far held off<\/strong> on launching retaliatory tariffs of its own, with finance ministers meeting Friday<\/strong> to consider options. The decision hinges on whether Washington\u2019s 90-day tariff delay can open meaningful trade negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n French President Emmanuel Macron<\/strong> called the pause \u201ca fragile one,\u201d reflecting widespread skepticism about Trump\u2019s long-term trade intentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adding to the uncertainty, the European Central Bank<\/strong> is monitoring the risk of financial contagion<\/strong>. ECB supervisor Sharon Donnery<\/strong> expressed concern that market stress could spread from non-bank financial entities<\/strong>\u2014such as hedge funds\u2014to traditional lenders<\/strong>, especially in turbulent periods like the current one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All eyes now turn to the ECB policy meeting next Thursday<\/strong>, where money markets are pricing in a near-certain 25 basis point rate cut<\/strong>, amid signs of weakening growth and intensifying geopolitical headwinds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In corporate news, shares of Swedish industrial tech firm Hexagon<\/strong> dropped 9.6%<\/strong> after the company reported an 8% decline in adjusted Q1 operating profit<\/strong>. The disappointing results raised concerns about industrial demand trends<\/strong>, particularly in the context of weakening global trade activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the trade war between the U.S. and China escalating and Europe\u2019s role in global negotiations still unclear, market volatility is likely to remain high<\/strong>. Investors will be closely watching developments out of Washington and Beijing<\/strong>, as well as next week\u2019s ECB meeting<\/strong>, for any signals on policy responses to growing macroeconomic risks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" European markets slipped on Friday, capping off a turbulent week dominated by U.S. tariff policy swings and growing anxiety over the economic fallout of the escalating U.S.-China trade war. At 07:58 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 index edged 0.3% lower, retreating from early gains. The index remains close to a 1.5-year low after U.S. President …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":70012,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,6827,49,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-commodities-news","category-daily-economic-reports","category-economic-reports","category-market-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113538"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113539,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113538\/revisions\/113539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nChina Tariff Hike Dampens Sentiment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nRegional Markets Mixed; Germany Pulls Back After Big Rally<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nECB in Focus as Market Risks Rise<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nStock Highlights: Hexagon Plunges on Profit Miss<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nOutlook<\/h3>\n\n\n\n