While American President Donald Trump has announced new 25% tariffs on all cars imported into the United States, European stock exchanges are expected to start trading on Thursday in the red. These new customs tariffs should apply as of April 2.

Commercial real estate company Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) announced on Wednesday evening that it had successfully placed 815 million euros in new hybrid bonds, with a coupon of 4.875%.

Around 7:45am, the CAC 40 futures contract was down 0.6%, according to data from broker IG.

The French public deficit reached 5.8% of GDP in 2024, according to figures published by INSEE this Thursday morning. Public debt now exceeds 3.300 billion euros.

As the recent technological rebound began to run out of steam, European futures predicted a lower opening, as new American plans for tariffs on cars weighed on Wall Street overnight. At around 7:45am, the DAX 40 futures contract in Frankfurt fell by 0.9%, while that on the FTSE 100 in London fell by 0.4%, according to data from broker IG

The New York Stock Exchange fell again on Wednesday, before the announcement of these new tariffs. Erasing its gains at the beginning of the session, the Dow Jones Index (DJIA) finally gave up 0.3%, to 42,454.19 points. The S&P 500 sank into the red to finish down 1.1% to 5,712.20 points. The Nasdaq Composite, rich in technology stocks, ended its rebound at the beginning of the week by plunging 2% to 17,899.01 points

In Asia, the Nikkei index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange ended Thursday trading down 0.6%. While the Hang Seng rose by 0.7% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.1%

As for European companies, H&M is due to publish its first-quarter results and Novo Nordisk is holding its general meeting on Thursday.

Dan Ives of Webush said he's not convinced that auto tariffs are permanent. “These first tariffs (if they continue in their current form) would be a hurricane-like headwind for foreign automakers (and many American automakers),” he said.
Most auto experts did not think tariffs would be put in place, explains RBC analyst Tom Narayan, adding that they would be “destructive to the auto industry.”

The 10-year US Treasury bond rate increased by 1 basis point (0.01 percentage point), to 4.37%, at around 7:45am. That of the two-year stock was stable at 4.03%.

The greenback fell by 0.1% against the Japanese currency, to 150.44 yen. Around 7:45am, the euro gained 0.2% to 1.0779 dollars.

The May contract for soft light crude (WTI) listed on Nymex lost 5 cents, or 0.1%, to $69.60 per barrel. The May North Sea Brent contract listed in London sold 5 cents, or 0.1%, to 73.01 dollars per barrel, around 7:45am