European shares tick higher with tariffs, BoE meeting in focus
ticked higher on Thursday, with corporate earnings in full swing, while higher
U.S. tariff rates
on dozens of partners kicked in ahead of the
Bank
of England's monetary policy meeting.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.2%, as of 0715 GMT, with most major regional bourses trading in the green. Britain's blue-chip FTSE 100 was down 0.2%, while Switzerland's benchmark SMI index was up 0.1%.
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U.S. President Donald Trump's higher tariffs kicked in on Thursday, including a 39% rate on Switzerland. Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter left Washington on Wednesday after failing to meet with Trump or any top trade officials, a source told Reuters.
The Bank of England is widely expected to announce a quarter-point interest rate cut at its meeting later in the day but policymakers could be split on the outlook with worries about rising inflation.
On the day, telecommunication
stocks
were under pressure falling 2.2%, with Freenet AG and DT Telekom down 8.5% and 5.2%, respectively, after quarterly results.
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Among individual stocks, Maersk rose 5.3%, with the shipping group raised its full-year profit outlook on global demand for ocean container freight.
Merck KGaA fell 3% after narrowing its guidance range for organic sales and posting a lower second-quarter adjusted
EBITDA
due to a weaker dollar.
Rheinmetall was the top decliner on the index, falling 5.2%, after the German defence company missed second-quarter sales expectations partially due to a delay in German defence contracts being awarded.
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Mint
25 minutes ago
- Mint
How Trump and Putin reached a new make-or-break moment on Ukraine
WASHINGTON—President Trump has long believed the crux of foreign policy is two leaders in a room making historic deals. Pulling off a cease-fire in Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin would be the kind of diplomatic coup he has long craved. It remains a long shot. The leaders could meet as soon as next week to pursue a peace agreement following months of maneuvering. But their approaches remain at odds. Trump has urged Putin to stop the war but has shown little interest in the specifics of a deal. The Kremlin boss has rebuffed all appeals to halt the fighting, except on his terms. After months of failed efforts to forge a deal, first by coercing Kyiv and later by wooing Putin, Trump has come around to the belief that heightened economic pressure on Moscow might be the only way to get an agreement. To sway Putin, Trump has embarked on a more confrontational course, threatening sanctions on countries that purchase Russian energy. He targeted India, a major buyer of Russian oil, with 50% tariffs on its goods shipped to the U.S. Other nations that import Russian oil and gas, including China, could see their duties raised by Trump's Friday deadline for an agreement. But even Trump seemed less than optimistic Thursday following talks earlier in the week between his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Putin in Moscow. 'We're going to see what he has to say," Trump told reporters of Putin. 'That's going to be up to him." The White House is working on arranging a meeting with Putin but would like a three-way meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. 'President Trump would like to meet with both President Putin and President Zelensky because he wants this brutal war to end," she said. The Russian leader said he is only open 'in principle" to talks with Zelensky. 'We are still far from creating such conditions," said Putin, who has frequently called into question Zelensky's legitimacy. Putin wouldn't have to agree to meet Zelensky for Trump to see him, the White House said. If the Trump-Putin summit happens, it could prove the biggest test of Trump's dealmaking skills this term. Trump returned to the White House vowing he could stop the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, later claiming he was merely joking. Privately, Trump is fuming at his failure to halt the war 200 days into his second presidency, according to aides. He has slowly come to recognize that a settlement must take account of Zelensky's bottom line and that of key European governments, who insist they won't recognize Russian control over any conquered territory—a key Kremlin demand—as part of an agreement. There is the added concern that Putin may not be serious about reaching a deal. 'Putin has made it clear that the Ukraine war is more important to him than the relationship with the U.S.," said Alina Polyakova, president and CEO of the Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis. Another challenge for Trump will be navigating talks with a Russian leader who has a quarter-century of experience dealing with various U.S. presidents and has proved himself skilled in influencing them. If Trump meets with Putin and emerges empty-handed, he will have to decide whether to increase pressure on Russia, despite his skepticism that economic or military moves would alter the Kremlin's calculus, or follow through on a threat he had made repeatedly to abandon the peace process. Either way, Polyakova said, 'the war keeps dragging on." Russian President Vladimir Putin and Steve Witkoff, President Trump's envoy, in Moscow this week. Trump entered his second term confident his rapport with Putin would overcome the complexities of the war Russia launched in February 2022. The president's supporters say he has been wrongly caricatured as too cozy and deferential to the Russian leader. 'People have misunderstood Trump's approach," said Fred Fleitz, who was a senior National Security Council official during the first term. 'It isn't that Trump likes dictators. He believes America has to coexist with Russia. Since we're not going to war, how do we deal with them?" Trump and Putin have held multiple calls and passed numerous messages through intermediaries, U.S. officials and other people familiar with their communications said. Their conversations, according to a senior administration official, have been typically friendly. Trump often discusses his aim of a revived U.S.-Russian relationship propelled by growing economic cooperation. Putin lists his grievances and core desires, mainly international recognition of Russia's control over Crimea and the Donbas region, much of which it has seized from Ukraine. Their calls extend for hours sometimes due to lengthy Putin monologues and the need for translations, current and former U.S. officials said. Trump, usually impatient and anxious to chime in, listens attentively, aides said. 'Putin does this very methodically," John Bolton, Trump's third national security adviser during the first term, said of the former KGB officer. 'He's very knowledgeable, he knows what he's talking about. When he wants to try and influence somebody, he just talks and talks and talks." Putin has carefully studied the new Trump administration and understands where Russia's leverage with the president lies, said Fiona Hill, who was a top Russia aide in the White House during Trump's first term. 'Putin's done his homework. He's had years of figuring out who Trump is," she said. Part of that homework was determining how to prosecute his war while sending signals of openness to diplomacy. Russia still attacks Ukrainian cities and infrastructure with long-range missiles and drones, killing civilians with regularity. The conflict along the roughly 750-mile front line remains a grinding war of attrition, with Russia's summer offensive clawing gradual gains against a staunch and stretched Ukrainian defense. Moscow's lead in air power and troop numbers have given it the upper hand in the fight, U.S. and European officials quietly admit, though Russia's glaring weakness remains its heavily sanctioned economy. Trump's frustrations with Putin started to seep into the open at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in June, when he called his Russian counterpart's refusal to end the war 'misguided." 'I'm very surprised. Actually, I thought we would have had that settled easy," Trump told reporters. A July 3 phone call lasted barely an hour—far shorter than their previous chats. The call lacked the warmth with which they normally spoke to each other, the senior administration official said. There wasn't a flashpoint, but Trump ended it feeling perplexed, adding to his gnawing sense of being dragged along. Trump later acknowledged that Putin would say one thing in their conversations about his interest in halting the war and yet do another thing. 'I go home, I tell the first lady, 'And I spoke with Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation.' She said, 'Oh, really? Another city was just hit.'" A frustrated Trump announced last month that he would give Putin 50 days to complete a cease-fire with Ukraine, later shortening the deadline to Friday. Failure to do so would lead the U.S. to sanction some of Russia's top energy customers, a strategy aimed at choking off Moscow's major remaining sources of revenue for its war effort. Administration officials and close presidential confidants said Trump and Putin didn't have a single, major blowup this year. Instead it was a 'series of moments," in the words of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), that ultimately convinced Trump that 'Putin was trying to play him." 'You see now a turning of the page, and Putin has nobody to blame but himself," Graham said. But there are concerns in the U.S. and Europe that Putin floated the idea of a meeting to continue stringing Trump along, not to settle for peace. Putin might propose that Russia officially control some of the Ukrainian territory it occupies in exchange for a withdrawal of his forces from other parts of Ukraine, said a senior European diplomat and a Ukrainian official. Trump, eager for a deal, might urge Ukraine and allies to accept the offer. Kyiv and other European governments would likely reject the plan, the official said, playing into Putin's hands because Trump, rarely concerned with the details of a peace settlement, might then blame Ukraine for continuing to fight. Trump could cut off intelligence and military support for Ukraine, as he did earlier this year, setting back Zelensky's efforts to align himself more closely with Trump following a combative Oval Office meeting in February. The U.S. could also remove itself from the diplomatic process entirely, leaving Moscow and Kyiv to continue what Trump has long labeled 'Biden's war." But those who know Trump suspect he will keep pursuing the most prized deal of his early presidency, where success or failure could define his legacy. 'He wants to be the guy who gets deals," said Marc Short, a first-term senior White House aide. 'That is his brand." Write to Alexander Ward at Alex Leary at and Matthew Luxmoore at
Hindustan Times
27 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
India, US bureaucrats work to ease nerves amid face-off
Washington : Diplomats in New Delhi and Washington are battling behind the scenes to stabilise the India-US partnership even as political tensions have escalated dramatically following President Donald Trump's decision to impose a 50% tariff rate on Indian goods. US President Donald Trump with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House in Washington, DC.(Reuters File) According to persons closely involved with the relationship, governmental bureaucracies in both capitals have quietly continued functional cooperation on energy, trade and connectivity despite the public confrontation over India's Russian oil purchases. The diplomatic push comes after Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on Wednesday—bringing the total levy to 50% effective August 28—while India hit back, calling the measures 'unfair, unjustified and unreasonable' and vowing to protect its national interests. As HT reported, National Security Council director for South Asia Ricky Gill visited India this week for a summit on the delayed India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), underscoring continued strategic cooperation despite trade tensions. Gill — Trump's top adviser for South Asia at the White House — met with senior officials from India as well as key European nations during his New Delhi visit. A veteran of the first Trump administration, where he handled Russia and European energy issues, Gill's engagement signals White House recognition of the partnership's strategic importance. However, the diplomatic effort comes against the backdrop of key policy positions related to India in the Trump administration remaining unfilled. The state department currently lacks an assistant secretary for South Asia, while Washington has not nominated an Ambassador to India. Despite political tensions, plans for senior delegation visits on crucial priority areas continue. The US Department of Energy plans to send a high-level delegation to India in coming months, while a key Indian energy delegation is expected to visit Washington at month's end. Amid the outreach, India is ramping up purchases of both crude oil and liquified natural gas from the US, with imports of US crude jumping 114% to $3.7 billion in the first quarter of FY 2025-26 from $1.73 billion in the same period the previous year. India also increased US crude oil imports by 51% in the first six months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, highlighting New Delhi's efforts to diversify energy sources whilst maintaining Russian purchases for price competitiveness. The energy cooperation contrasts sharply with Trump's tariff justification, which cites India's Russian oil imports as 'fuelling the war machine' in Ukraine. Cooperation with various other arms of the US government—including treasury and state department—continues despite public tensions, according to the people cited above. India has mounted a robust defence of its energy policies, with the ministry of external affairs pointing to continued Western trade with Russia to counter American criticism. 'Europe-Russia trade includes not just energy, but also fertilizers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel and machinery and transport equipment,' the ministry said in a statement earlier in the week. 'Where the United States is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilizers as well as chemicals.' The uncertainty, however, is palpable and experts believe it remains to be seen how crucial strategic collaboration in several areas is impacted. 'Commentators sometimes complain about bureaucratic dialogues. But I think the infrastructure built around the India-US relationship has brought benefits. Last I checked, there were around three dozen diplomatic dialogues between the US and India. These help keep channels of communication open, both in good times and challenging times,' said Basant Sanghera, managing principal at the Asia Group.
Time of India
35 minutes ago
- Time of India
'Not until we get it resolved': Trump rules out trade talks with India
US President Donald Trump on Thursday said Washington won't enter trade talks with India until the tariff dispute is resolved. 'No, not until we get it resolved,' Trump said in the Oval Office when asked whether he expected talks to resume following his administration's decision to double tariffs on Indian imports. Earlier, principal deputy spokesperson for the US department of state Tommy Pigott described the imposition of tariffs on India as part of a "full and frank dialogue" with New Delhi to push Washington's key concerns. 'This is about an honest, full, and frank dialogue about real concerns that this administration has — concerns the President has outlined very clearly,' Pigott said during a press briefing. 'Addressing those concerns through his actions — he's spoken about them, whether it's about the purchase of Russian oil or about the trade imbalance. Addressing those concerns is important... The President has been very clear... Ultimately, this is about a frank and full dialogue,' he added. This comes after Trump announced a 50% tariff on Indian exports to the United States -- the steepest ever imposed on a major Asian partner. Trump accused India of 'funding Russia's war machine' through continued crude oil purchases from Moscow and warned of further penalties if Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not halt the imports. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Villas Prices In Dubai Might Be More Affordable Than You Think Villas In Dubai | Search Ads Get Rates Undo The new measure follows Trump's earlier 25% tariff on Indian goods, and a bill advancing through Congress seeks to authorize tariffs of up to 500% on any country buying Russian oil. PM Modi, however, has shown no sign of backing down. Speaking at a national agricultural conference in New Delhi on Thursday, he said, 'India will never compromise on the interests of its farmers, dairy farmers, and fishermen… I am ready to personally pay the huge price.'
