European Stocks Hit Hard by Tariff-Driven Market Turmoil
European stock markets plunged on Thursday, reacting to newly announced tariffs that took investors by surprise.
The Stoxx 600 index closed down 2.7%, as major retail and industrial stocks with global supply chains faced severe losses. Adidas fell 11%, while shipping giant Maersk dropped 9.5%.
The automotive sector was hit hard, with the Stoxx Autos index losing 3.9% following new 25% tariffs on imported vehicles.
Financial stocks took a major hit, falling 5.6%, while the technology sector declined by 4.5%.
In contrast, utility stocks saw a 3% rise, benefiting from their defensive nature during market turbulence. National indices were also down, with the U.K.’s FTSE 100 falling 1.6%, France’s CAC 40 dropping 3.3%, and Germany’s DAX down 3.1%.
The newly introduced tariffs, including a 10% baseline duty on all imports and higher rates on specific products, are expected to impact over 180 countries.
The EU and China have both signaled potential countermeasures, with European leaders expressing concern over the disruption to trade.
In the currency market, the euro and the British pound surged to six-month highs against the dollar, reflecting increased uncertainty. As global markets remain volatile, investors are bracing for continued fallout from the unexpected tariff policies.
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coindoo and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
