Germany's DAX fell 2% on Thursday as European markets appeared to respond to comments by European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde, who cautioned of slower growth in the region should US President Trump's proposed levies against the EU be met with a counter-response.
Lagarde warned that the US 25% tariffs on imports from Europe would lower the Eurozone's growth by about 0.3 percentage points in the first year. "A European response in the form of raising tariffs on US imports would further increase this to about half a percentage point," she added.
DAX fell 2.00% at 6:21 am ET, while the Euro Stoxx 50 plunged 1.33%. The FTSE 100 declined 0.39% whereas the CAC 40 weakened 1.28%. Meanwhile, the euro slumped 0.58% against the dollar to sell for $1.08403 at 6:38 am ET. Simultaneously, the pound lost 0.46% compared to the greenback, going for $1.29431.
