European stocks opened lower on Wednesday, with markets struggling to maintain the positive momentum of the previous session as the U.S.’ country-specific tariffs started taking effect.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was 2.55% lower shortly after the opening bell, with all sectors and major bourses firmly in negative territory. Regional banking, mining and oil and gas indexes led the losses, plummeting 3%, 3.9% and 3.6% respectively.
Among Europe’s major indexes, the French CAC 40 crashed 2.6%, while Germany’s DAX was 2.1% lower during early morning trade, and the FTSE 100 lost 2%.
European markets had closed in the green on Tuesday, snapping a four-day loosing streak. The move higher came after Asia-Pacific stocks had kicked off a global equity rebound, which U.S. stocks also initially joined before pulling back.
Unease about the fallout from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and retaliatory measures from the U.S.’ trading partners weighed on markets as concerns about more duties being announced grew and uncertainty persisted.
Trump on Tuesday suggested the U.S. would soon announce “a very major tariff on pharmaceuticals,” and tripled the previously announced tariff rates on low-value packages exported to the U.S. from China via the international postal system.
A slew of tariffs came into effect just after midnight stateside, with duties being enforced on imports from dozens of countries. The measures include a 104% tariff on Chinese imports.
Some targeted countries are expected to hit back at the United States, including Canada, which on Tuesday reconfirmed plans to impose 25% retaliatory tariffs on U.S.-made vehicles.
U.S. stock futures were last lower as investors braced themselves for potentially another rollercoaster day on Wall Street. Asia-Pacific markets also widely fell Wednesday.
— CNBC’s Christina Wilkie contributed to this report.
