Rash of tariff letters unnerve investors with banks worst hit as markets drop
Dublin
The Irish index of shares fell more than 2.7 per cent on Friday to end the week at 11,097. The market was dragged lower by weakness in banking and building stocks, with travel stocks also shedding value.
AIB and Bank of Ireland lost 5.3 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively from their values on Friday. Earlier on Friday, AIB reported first half results that showed that its loan book grew by only 1 per cent in the first half of the year.
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Analysts had also queried why the bank is not making a large special distribution to investors, even though it will return to paying interim dividends for the first time since 2008.
Insulation specialist Kingspan was down 4.6 per cent, while home builders Cairn and Glenveagh were each off 1.6 per cent.
Airline Ryanair, meanwhile, shed almost 2.6 per cent by the close of the session.
London
Healthcare shares led British equities lower on Friday, as US President Donald Trump slapped fresh levies on dozens of countries and demanded lower prescription drug prices.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 fell 0.7 per cent, its biggest drop in percentage terms in almost four months, and also snapped a six-week winning streak. The domestically focused midcap FTSE 250 was down 1.2 per cent on the day and posted its second straight weekly decline.
British healthcare stocks were down 1.4 per cent a day after Mr Trump sent letters to the leaders of 17 big pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca and GSK, outlining how they should slash US prescription drug prices. AstraZeneca fell 1.9 per cent and GSK was 1.5 per cent lower.
British Airways owner IAG fell 1.7 per cent after the airline group said it expected cost rises linked to air traffic control issues.
Pearson rose 6.1 per cent after the education company forecast stronger growth in the second half.
Europe
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index slid 1.9 per cent and marked its biggest one-week drop since early April when Trump unveiled his tariffs on world economies. The euro Stoxx volatility index jumped 4.25 points to its highest in over one-month.
The Stoxx index has lost over 5 per cent from its March peak, after coming within 2 per cent of that level earlier this week, dragged down by a record plunge in Novo Nordisk shares, and as investors assess the implications of the US-EU trade deal.
The Denmark-listed Wegovy-maker shed 1.8 per cent and logged its steepest weekly decline on record.
Most regional bourses were in the red, with Germany's blue-chip DAX down 2.7 per cent, while Denmark's OMXC fell 1.8 per cent to a nearly two-year low.
Banks, which had rallied earlier in the week, were down 3.4 per cent and were the top sectoral underperformer as they notched their biggest one-day drop since early April.
In a bright spot, Italy's Campari was the big winner on the Stoxx 600 index, adding 7.9 per cent after reporting an increase in second-quarter operating profit.
New York
Wall Street's main indices led a global sell-off on Friday as new US tariffs on dozens of trading partners weighed on sentiment, while a weaker-than-expected payrolls report added to risk aversion.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 573.05 points, or 1.3 per cent weaker at 11:39am, on 43,557.93, while the S&P 500 lost 93.99 points, or 1.48 per cent, to 6,245.40 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 412.60 points, or 1.95 per cent, to 20,709.85.
Further weighing on markets, Amazon dropped 8 per cent after the company's growth in its cloud computing unit failed to impress investors, widely lagging its AI-focused rivals, Alphabet and Microsoft that reported on Wednesday. – Additional reporting: Reuters
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