Home / Business and Politics / Global Stock Markets Rise, Euro Exchange Rate Jumps, Focus on Trump’s Moves Regarding Tariffs and the War in Ukraine

Global Stock Markets Rise, Euro Exchange Rate Jumps, Focus on Trump’s Moves Regarding Tariffs and the War in Ukraine

Last week, stock prices rose on global markets, with the European STOXX 600 index reaching record levels, largely due to investors’ hopes for an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones increased by 0.5 percent to 44,546 points, while the S&P 500 rose by 1.5 percent to 6,114 points, and the Nasdaq index climbed by 2.6 percent to 20,026 points.

After two weeks of decline, these indices were primarily boosted last week by the recovery of stock prices of several tech giants, such as Nvidia, Tesla, and Apple, which had been under pressure in previous weeks.

The market was also positively influenced by the postponement of tariff implementation. Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would impose tariffs on imports from all countries that charge tariffs on U.S. products.

It was expected that he would do this last week, but the White House stated that it is still analyzing which countries should have tariffs imposed or increased, and that conclusions will be known soon.

While he postponed those tariffs, Trump signed a decision to increase tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from 10 to 25 percent, which spurred the rise in stock prices of U.S. steel manufacturers.
Investors’ hopes that the war between Russia and Ukraine could soon end also positively impacted the market, after Trump spoke with the presidents of both countries and announced peace negotiations.
Thanks to all of this, news about rising inflation in January in the U.S. took a back seat, indicating that the U.S. central bank has little room for further interest rate cuts.

European Stock Markets Rise for the Eighth Consecutive Week, Euro Jumps

Stock prices also rose on European markets last week, marking the eighth consecutive week of increases. The STOXX 600 index of major European stocks reached new record levels during the week, while it is up about 9 percent since the beginning of the year.
Last week, the London FTSE index strengthened by 0.4 percent to 8,732 points, while the Frankfurt DAX jumped by 3.3 percent to 22,513 points, and the Paris CAC rose by 2.6 percent to 8,178 points.

On the currency markets, the value of the dollar against a basket of currencies fell last week for the second consecutive week, with the euro exchange rate jumping by more than 1.5 percent as the war between Russia and Ukraine could soon end.

The dollar index, which shows the value of the U.S. dollar against six major world currencies, fell by 1.2 percent last week to 106.80 points. Meanwhile, the euro exchange rate against the dollar rose by 1.6 percent to 1.0490 dollars.

However, the U.S. currency strengthened against the Japanese yen by 0.6 percent, reaching an exchange rate of 152.30 yen.

The strong rise in the euro against the dollar is primarily attributed to investors’ hopes that the war between Russia and Ukraine could soon end, after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with the presidents of both countries and announced peace negotiations.

– The strengthening of the euro is due to enthusiasm regarding a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, which could be very positive for the growth of European economies – says Vassili Serebriakov, currency strategist at UBS.

The postponement of tariff implementation also contributed to market stabilization. Recently, Trump announced the introduction of tariffs on imports from all countries that charge tariffs on U.S. products.

It was expected that he would do this last week, but the White House stated that it is still analyzing which countries should have tariffs imposed or increased, and that conclusions will be known soon. – The market hopes that the negative effects of tariffs will not be as significant as previously thought – explains Serebriakov.