Squawk Box Europe Express

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are on track to post their worst trading week since September 2023 ahead of next week’s Trump tariff blitz on ‘Liberation Day’, April 2nd. Chinese President Xi Jinping hosts CEOs in Beijing in a bid to boost business ties and calls for trade dialogue with the U.S. We hear from Santander chair Ana Botin who calls U.S. tariffs as a tax on consumers and says that the l...

President Trump slaps a 25 per cent levy on all car imports to the U.S., sending autos shares sharply lower. European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen says the bloc will seek to negotiate with President Trump but vows to protects its own economic interests. Germany’s car industry association says the tariffs are a ‘fatal signal’ for global free trade. UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel...

We are live outside the House of Commons in London where Chancellor Rachel Reeves is due to deliver her Spring Statement later today. Spending cuts are to top the agenda as Reeves struggles to revive a moribund economy. This, as the country’s budget watchdog, the Office of Budgetary Responsibility, is set to halve the country’s growth forecast for the year. UK economists also predict a small easin...

President Trump says he is prepared to offer exemptions to some countries from reciprocal tariffs which begin on April 2nd. However, he pledges to add further levies on other key sectors such as autos, pharma, chips and lumber. Tesla sees European sales fall by more than 40 per cent during the first two months of the year. EV registrations on the Continent, however, surge by almost 30 per cent. De...

The annual China Development Forum kicks off in Beijing with Chinese Premier Li Qiang insisting the country is open to investment. President Trump signals he may be flexible on certain reciprocal tariffs. Canadian PM Mark Carney calls a snap election for April in a move to capitalise on growing anti-Trump sentiment throughout the country. In the UK, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announ...

London’s Heathrow is shut with all flights cancelled or diverted following a massive sub-station fire knocks out power to the airport and to nearby neighbourhoods. The Dow and S&P 500 are slightly in the green to eke gains for the week but U.S. equities remain under pressure. DoubleLine Capital’s Jeffrey Gundlach believes a recession is a possibility. Brussels delays retaliatory tariffs on the...

The Federal Reserve keeps rates on hold as anticipated. Chairman Jerome Powell signalled he was easing off on the growth forecast and slightly raising inflation projections. However, markets shrugged off any concerns and now expect two more potential rate cuts this year. The PBOC also maintains rates for the fifth straight month with the BoE and the Riksbank set to follow suit. The SNB is likely t...

Germany pass historic debt reform in the Bundestag, launching a fiscal bazooka of infrastructure and defence spending. Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz says the move will help create a new European security alliance. Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a near-two hour phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump and agrees to cease attacks on Ukrainian energy installations but hopes of an im...

Israel shatters the ceasefire with Hamas - launching air strikes on dozens of targets in Gaza and killing hundreds. U.S. retail sales rise less than expected, adding to concerns about the state of the U.S. consumer - as the OECD warns of slowing global growth. Elsewhere Germany's Bundestag is expected to shake off the country's fiscal shackles today and overhaul its debt brake laws - lifting the c...

Asian equities are in the green as Chinese demand surges in the face of U.S. tariffs. Authorities in Beijing have pledged further moves to revive consumption. In the U.S., futures slip again. The Dow suffers its worst week since 2023. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tells NBC News that he remains unfazed by market turmoil. President Trump says he will hold talks with Russian President Vladim...

President Trump threatens to slap the EU with a 200 per cent tariff on imported alcohol and says he will not bend on Canadian autos and metals tariffs. The jitters felt on Wall Street this week sees the S&P 500 in correction territory. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tells CNBC he is unfazed by short-term market volatility. Russian President Vladimir Putin says he agrees to the Ukraine c...

President Trump pledges to introduce ore tariffs as the U.S.’s trading partners hit back against levies focused on steel and aluminium imports. A soft inflation report prompts investors to buy up the recent tech dip which eases market jitters about the health of the American economy. The U.S. deficit reached $1.15tn in the first 5 months of the American fiscal year despite DOGE’s efforts to cut go...

The European Union responds to President Trump’s tariffs hitting back with its own set of counter-measures worth €26bn. We are live in Singapore at CNBC’s inaugural Converge Live conference where billionaire investor Ray Dalio tells us the tariffs will cause confrontations between nations. Also at Converge Live, Alibaba chairman Joe Tsai says the importance and impact of President Xi’s recent meet...

U.S. tech stocks suffer a $1tn wipeout as Trump tariffs and recession concerns trigger a massive repricing move. Tesla shares fall 15 per cent during its worst session since September 2020. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for Ukraine peace talks and says Kyiv will have to accept Russian control of some of its territory. Sales slow and investors await guidance fr...

President Donald Trump says the U.S. economy requires time to transition and says that a recession is still a possibility. Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney wins the race to become Canadian Prime Minister and immediately slams Trump’s tariff policies against his country. The CDU and SPD will enter coalition talks following agreement on several policies including energy and tax reforms in...

President Trump signs an executive order to delay certain tariff measures on both Canada and Mexico, claiming the volte-face is unrelated to market reaction. Tech stocks lead tariff-related losses on Wall Street with U.S. equities suffering their worst trading week of the year so far. We are live in Brussels where EU leaders agree on defence spending but Hungarian opposition blocks unanimous suppo...

Automakers are handed a one-month postponement of tariffs on Canada and Mexico by U.S. President Trump with his administration dangling the prospect of further sector-specific exemptions. Investor sentiment lifts slightly on Wall Street as a result and Asia equities follow suit. French President Emmanuel Macron says he could extend his country’s nuclear deterrent to cover Europe in the face of Rus...

President Trump makes the longest joint address to Congress in U.S. history, touting his administration’s achievements so far on immigration, government expenditure and upcoming trade measures. Tariff fears are reflected in the U.S. markets with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq seeing their post-election gains cancelled out. In Beijing, the NPC warns of changes ‘unseen in a century’ as it targets GDP of...

President Trump’s tariffs come into effect hitting imports from Canada and Mexico with 25 per cent levies. China receives an additional 10 per cent. Both China and Canada immediately respond with counter-tariffs, digging in for what could be a bitter trade war. Tech stocks retreat with Nvidia seeing almost $300bn wiped from its market cap. Meanwhile, Taiwanese chip giant TSMC pledges to build to b...

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer calls for a ‘coalition of the willing’ following Friday’s dramatic collapse in US-Ukrainian peace talks. Crypto prices soar following US President Donald Trump’s details of his strategic reserve plan which features Bitcoin as well as smaller tokens in a bid to boost the sector. Asian indices are in the green today as investors anticipate tariff announcements on Canad...

Wall Street and Asian indices both fall into the red as global trade concerns weigh following President Trump’s pledge to slap additional tariffs on Chinese imports. Beijing has vowed to impose counter-measures. Nvidia drags global chip stocks down with its market cap dipping below $3tn. President Trump hosts UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and says the two countries are progressing towards a t...

Nvidia posts an earnings beat but guidance disappoints Wall Street pushing shares down slightly. The chip giant’s CEO Jensen Huang tells CNBC he remains unfazed by lower-cost challengers. President Trump holds his first cabinet meeting, threatening the EU with a new 25 per cent tariff on imports, saying the bloc’s formation was aimed at ‘screwing’ the U.S. Bitcoin attempts to claw back some losses...

The world’s largest brewer, AB InBev posts record FY revenue but overall volumes fall. Washington and Kyiv are reportedly set to sign an agreement over critical mineral resources in Ukraine in exchange for yet unspecified U.S. support measures. President Donald Trump has seemingly confirmed that Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy will travel to Washington to sign the deal later this week.&nbs...

President Trump has promised to launch sweeping tariffs on neighbours Canada and Mexico starting next week. JPMorgan boss Jaimie Dimon tells CNBC that most U.S. businesses will largely be unaffected. The U.S. 2- and 10-year Treasuries fall to their lowest point this year so far ahead of Friday’s PCE print. Markets remain jittery about stubborn inflation. In Germany, Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich...

Three years on from Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the conflict continues, both at home and abroad now with splintering support and a new US administration threatening to upend progress... So is this finally Europe's "wake-up" call? Can it still count on the United States for support? And is the continent actually ready to step up and provide its own collective defence? We pose those...