European Stocks Trim Losses as China Sees Potential for US Talks
(Bloomberg) -- European equities pared losses after China said it’s open to trade talks if the Trump administration takes a number of steps and shows more respect.
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The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was down 0.6% at 12:51 p.m. in London after falling as much as 1.4% earlier. Tech was the biggest laggard after the US barred Nvidia from selling its H20 chip in China, in an escalation of Washington’s battle with Beijing.
China signaled it would be willing to engage in trade talks under the condition the US shows a more consistent position and reins in disparaging remarks by members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet.
READ: Europe’s Markets Are Winning From End of ‘America First’ Trade
“My impression is that the market became a little too optimistic after the snapback of the past few days, as we’re getting some data points that make us scratch our head,” said Philipp Lisibach, head of strategy and research at LGT Private Banking.
European stocks’ record outperformance in the first quarter versus the S&P 500 in dollar terms has been followed by investors grappling with the impact of Trump’s trade policies. The Stoxx 600 fell as much as 17% from a March all-time high, but has since recovered more than a third of the losses.
ASML Holding NV fell as much as 7.6% after orders for the first quarter were far lower than expected and the firm warned that it doesn’t know how to quantify the impact from recent tariff announcements. Heineken NV rose as much as 4.1% after volumes of beer fell less than expected, even as a late Easter dampened demand for its top-selling brands in Europe and the Americas.
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--With assistance from Michael Msika.
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