European stocks brush off Trump's copper, pharma tariff threats

AFP | London

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Wall Street rose and major European markets closed in the green yesterday, brushing off US President Donald Trump's tariff threats on copper and pharmaceuticals.

Investors kept an eye on countries seeking to hammer out tariff agreements before Trump's new cut-off date of August 1. The US president had reignited trade jitters Tuesday by announcing a 50% toll on copper imports and saying he was looking at 200% tariffs on pharmaceuticals.

Copper soars

The news sent the price of copper -- with a wide range of uses including in cars, construction and telecoms -- to a record high Tuesday. But Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, found Wednesday "the market is not taking Trump at his word when it comes to tariffs, and the market impact has been limited so far."

The tech-heavy Nasdaq had added almost 1% two hours into the session with chipmaker Nvidia barrelling ahead just over 2% as AI growth saw it top $4 trillion in market value, the first company to hit the mark as it extended its globe-leading market capitalisation.

Noting tech had endured some lean months going back to the third quarter of last year, eToro's US investment analyst Bret Kenwell said "we're seeing growth stocks come to life on the back of AI initiatives, while cybersecurity firms are rallying higher. Mega-cap tech continues to spend fortunes building out the necessary AI infrastructure for the future."

After Trump said he would allow pharmaceutical manufacturers time to relocate operations to the United States before rolling out fresh duties, equity markets largely took the news in their stride as "details of when, how and who remain thin on the ground", said Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown.

Germany’s Dax hit a new high European markets were shrugging off risks of a trade war. Germany's Dax hit a new high as it posted a 1.4% gain, matched by the CAC 40 in Paris. London could only manage a gain of just under 0.2%.

But Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform  IG, urged caution as "reports suggesting that Trump relishes the actual dealmaking process more than an actual resolution seem to suggest that a further delay to tariffs will be forthcoming, although this is an approach fraught with risk."

Trump warned he would not again extend his August 1 deadline to reach deals, after he pushed back his July 9 cut-off. rlier in Asia, Tokyo gains were tempered by losses in Hong Kong and Shanghai.