A stock market rout swept across the globe wiping more than $10 trillion off major markets, as concerns about the economic damage unleashed by US president Donald Trump’s tariffs spiral.
No corner of the world has been left unscathed by selling, with moves of a magnitude last seen during the 2020 Covid-19 crisis.
Dublin
The Iseq All Share Index closed down 4.08 per cent at 9,308.09, broadly in line with European peers. Most stocks finished a turbulent day in the red, in line with the global pattern.
FBD Holdings were down almost 7.2 per cent for the day, closing at €12.90, while there were heavy losses too at Dalata Hotel Group, down 6.16 per cent to €4.72.
Banking stocks fared poorly with Bank of Ireland down 3.9 per cent to €9.466 at the close, while AIB fell 2.15 per cent, finishing at €5.23.
Cairn Homes shed 3.72 per cent, closing at €1.81, while Glenveagh Properties retreated 2.86 per cent, with a finishing price of €1.43.
Kerry Group dropped 5.77 per cent and Glanbia, 2.83 per cent.
Kingspan also fell, just over 5 per cent while Ryanair was no exception to the day’s universal trend, declining by 3.7 per cent to a share price of €17.30.
London
British stocks plunged, extending their sell-off from last week.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index dropped 4.4 per cent, its weakest closing level in over a year.
British blue-chips have fallen more than 10 per cent from levels seen before last Thursday, in line with the global equities sell-off.
Ultimately, 95 of the 100 stocks in the FTSE 100 closed lower. Pharma and biotech led losses among the major subindexes, bogged down by a near 7 per cent fall in heavyweight AstraZeneca.
UK energy companies fell 4.8 per cent as oil prices eased more than 1 per cent to a near four-year low. Shell lost 4.5 per cent after lowering its first-quarter LNG production outlook due to adverse weather conditions in Australia.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Britain will fight to secure an economic partnership with the U.S. while also working to lower trade barriers with key partners around the world.
Europe
European shares slumped in a volatile session on Monday, with the Stoxx 600 closing at its lowest since January 2024.
The pan-European Stoxx dropped 4.5 per cent, down for the fourth straight session. Major bourses closed down between 4 per cent to over 5 per cent.
Trade-sensitive Germany’s benchmark index dove as much as 6.4 per cent, at one point down more than 20 per cent from its March all-time closing high and on track to confirm a bear market, though it pared some losses to close down 4.3 per cent.
The volatility index leapt to an over three year high of 46.72.
A barrage of headlines kept investors on edge throughout the session. Stocks sharply pared losses after a report that Mr Trump was considering a 90-day pause in tariffs for all countries but China. However, they retraced those gains after the White House called the report “fake news.”
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All sectors were in the red, with European banks confirming a bear market, down over 20.9 per cent from its March record high.
The ECB has estimated that a blanket US tariff would lower euro zone growth by 0.3 percentage points in the first year, and EU counter-tariffs on the US would raise the damage to half a percentage point.
New York
Waves of volatility shook markets with stocks getting whipsawed as traders searched for a bottom in the sell-off triggered by Donald Trump’s trade war.
Equities swung between gains and losses, with the S&P 500’s 7 per cent intraday move being the biggest since the bear market of 2020.
Such intensity underscores the challenges investors are facing as they navigate a myriad of headlines around tariffs. A $9.5 trillion global wipeout drove the US equity benchmark down almost 20 per cent from its record high. The bond market also experienced wild swings, with 10-year yields climbing 12 basis points after earlier tumbling about as much.
Traders are bracing for another bumpy week amid concerns that a full-fledged trade war will sink the economy into a recession.
Hedge funds recorded their largest-ever one-day net sales of global equities on the first day of trading after Mr Trump’s sweeping tariffs announcement, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s prime brokerage desk. The same division at JPMorgan Chase, which also saw aggressive selling among hedge funds, said declines in positioning would indicate the market is getting close to a tactical bottom.
Wall Street forecasters are racing to temper their views on US equities as Trump’s sweeping tariffs threaten to upend the global economy.
