Paris (awp/afp) – Stock markets are focused on American politics on Monday after Donald Trump denied information from the American daily Washington Post according to which the president-elect was considering a more limited increase in customs duties than expected.
Relying on three sources close to the matter, the Washington Post argued that the increases in import customs duties, announced by Trump during his presidential campaign, would concern all countries but would only be applied to certain sensitive sectors, for example related to national security.
“It’s false,” Donald Trump denied on his social network Truth Social.
“The Washington Post article, citing so-called anonymous sources that do not exist, falsely claims that my pricing policy will be reduced. This is false. The Washington Post knows this is false. It This is a new example of +fake news+,” wrote the future occupant of the White House.
On Wall Street, the three main indices opened higher and around 2:45 p.m. GMT, the Nasdaq gained 1.51%, the S&P 500 gained 0.99% and the Dow Jones gained 0.33%.
In Europe, the Paris Stock Exchange advanced by 1.44%, driven in particular by exporting sectors such as the automobile with Stellantis (+4.25%), the technology sector with STMicroelectronics (+7.01%) at the forefront or even luxury with the giants Hermès (+3.67%) and LVMH (+3.40%).
Frankfurt gained 0.91%, notably driven by the semiconductor specialist Infineon (+6.15%) and Milan 1.32%. Elsewhere on the Old Continent, London remained silent (-0.09%). In Zurich, the SMI fell 0.01%.
At the same time, the dollar fell sharply against the euro: the American currency fell by 0.67% against the single currency, to 1.0377 dollars per euro.
Regarding the threats of customs duties that could be decided by Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron declared earlier Monday that Mr. Trump “knows that he has a solid ally in France, an ally that he does not despise.” who believes in Europe” and has a “lucid ambition” for the transatlantic relationship.
This comes in a context where Europe is “faced with moderate growth forecasts, political instability and structural problems in Germany and France”, recalls John Plassard, investment specialist for Mirabaud.
On Monday, indicators illustrated the sluggishness of the euro zone economy.
The Eurozone HCOB Composite PMI stood at 49.6 in December, up from 48.3 in November. Although still below 50 – indicating a contraction in activity – this is a two-month high.
“The euro zone economy ended 2024 in a fragile state”, presents the S&P Global agency, “activity levels having declined in a context of sustained decline in new business and employment” .
This contraction is “entirely attributable” to industry, “service activity having rebounded”, notes the agency which published this data.
In Germany, inflation rose more sharply than expected in December, to 2.6%, more than the European Central Bank’s (ECB) target of 2%.
Oil and bitcoin on the rise ___
Around 2:45 p.m. GMT, the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea rose 0.76% to $77.09 and its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate, climbed 0.83% to $74.58.
Bitcoin gained 0.75% to $99,224.
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