Americas

Sinking shipper shares miss plain-sailing outcome

11 Apr 2025

Maersk and Zim’s stock fell 20% since Donald Trump’s trade jolt. The drop reflects fears that the US will revive global tariffs and spark a trade decline akin to the 2008 financial crisis. But if they are only focused on China, more re-exports could boost demand.

Global trade morass calls for an aggressive ECB

11 Apr 2025

Donald Trump’s tariffs are driving up uncertainty and roiling markets. The European Central Bank must decide if the risk of higher inflation is worse than that of a slump. The euro zone’s low growth, a strong euro and already tight policy justify a half percentage point cut.

There’s no easy escape from the US bubble economy

11 Apr 2025

The United States depends heavily on financial activity and debt, supported by foreign investors. Though Donald Trump has paused punitive tariffs he seems determined to change economic course. As Japan discovered three decades ago, deflating a bubble involves widespread pain.

Fed chair nears second chance to channel his hero

10 Apr 2025

After using Paul Volcker’s ideas to zap inflation, Jerome Powell is in another tricky spot. US tariffs threaten to push up prices anew and slow GDP growth. Although investors expect lower rates, if the central bank boss keeps his job he’s more likely to reuse the 1980s playbook.

Stock buybacks present solid trade-war tradeoff

10 Apr 2025

Chipmaker Broadcom unveiled a $10 bln repurchase plan, in a potential sign of more to come. Purchasing discounted shares is a shrewd, countercyclical use of corporate capital as market chaos rattles spending plans and investor sentiment. Last year’s $940 bln record may be broken.

EU gets hard-to-repeat win in Trump’s trade casino

10 Apr 2025

Ursula von der Leyen resisted an aggressive, Chinese-style response to the US president’s tariffs. The European Commission boss’s implicit wager that markets would prompt Donald Trump to rethink panned out. But the EU has swerved a crisis, rather than entered a safer paradigm.

Chinese stocks have big role to play in trade war

10 Apr 2025

Compared to global markets, Chinese indexes have been relatively stable. Official intervention is one reason. Investors betting on fiscal stimulus is another. The resilience matters to Beijing: it projects confidence to withstand US tariffs and can also spur consumption.

EU’s SpaceX rival demands more than financial fuel

10 Apr 2025

Europe wants a home-grown alternative to Elon Musk’s rockets-and-satellites firm. That will require state largesse: SpaceX became a giant with the help of $28 bln in US government contracts. But it will also need supportive policy, new technologies and far greater ambition.

US-China trade clash risks all-out financial war

10 Apr 2025

Tit-for-tat tariffs torch a $600 bln bilateral relationship yet further levies will have diminishing sting. There are signs more escalation could lead to a dangerous weaponisation of finance. But for all the bluster, Trump's pause on other countries provides some breathing room.

US tariff mania keeps everyone on edge

10 Apr 2025

President Trump’s import-levies bonanza, however it evolves, is arbitrary enough to upend easy assumptions about how the White House, the Federal Reserve and American trade partners can or will proceed. In this week’s Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists gauge the fallout.

Banks are dubious savior for US government debt

9 Apr 2025

The 10-year yield stayed high at 4.3% after a tariff pause. It adds urgency to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s quest to relax capital rules so that lenders can buy more bonds. The timing, with investors fleeing, flags the risk. SVB found that safe assets can cause problems.

Trump’s tariff retreat leaves lasting US scars

9 Apr 2025

Stocks, bonds and the dollar rallied after the president rolled back most of his reckless levies to 10% for 90 days. Trade frictions linger, however, especially with China, as does anxiety about future rash moves. Damage to the White House and American credibility will endure.

Walmart’s happy face is hard to reflect back

9 Apr 2025

The $700 bln retailer kept forecasts of at least 3% sales growth and 3.5% higher operating profit for 2025. Such confidence jars with US tariffs and recession risks both rising. Boss Doug McMillon has navigated downturns before, but unpredictability levels blunt his reassurance.

US defense giants will be outflanked by trade war

9 Apr 2025

America First policy threatens $319 bln in arms sold to other governments in 2024, as EU allies try to cut reliance on an unreliable White House. Scale and a legacy of NATO cooperation offer some protection, but prize exports like Lockheed Martin’s F-35 are at clear risk.

Why the US bond selloff could keep spiralling

9 Apr 2025

Yields on 30-year government debt spiked to almost 4.9%, from below 4.4% on Friday, as Donald Trump’s trade war roils the world’s key funding market. The squeeze reinforces longer-term fears about the cost of tariffs. Barring a policy U-turn, the selling looks set to continue.

Big Pharma has partial immunity from Trump tariffs

9 Apr 2025

The US is threatening to hit the $1.7 trln sector, having initially spared drugmakers like Roche and Eli Lilly. The market’s complexity offers some protection and disruptions may cost lives. This means import levies are likely to be less painful than for car or steelmakers.

Chipmaking giants face triple tariff hit

9 Apr 2025

Semiconductors are exempt from Washington's levies, but that may not last. The blow to global demand for phones and other electronic items also will hurt $640 bln TSMC, Samsung and peers. Meanwhile, surging import costs will disrupt their bold plans to set up factories in the US.

Trumpian stubbornness puts the onus back on CEOs

8 Apr 2025

Finance grandees Jamie Dimon and Larry Fink are warning of tariff peril, nudged by market howls that have fallen on unusually deaf ears at the White House. After years of crafting even-handed personas and preaching long-termism, they will be forced back to more prosaic concerns.

Apple has some apps to manage tariff trouble

8 Apr 2025

The $2.7 trln tech giant makes about 90% of its iPhones in China. Adding 54% levies to US imports erodes some 15% of profit. Retaliatory duties on gadgets would reduce it further. At least Apple’s shift from hardware to services like music and payments should cushion the blow.

Chipmaker crafts tricky recipe for chaos-era M&A

8 Apr 2025

Germany’s Infineon Technologies is paying $2.5 bln for a unit of Marvell Technology that serves the car sector. The rich price jars with volatile markets. It suggests deals can get done, but only with a price-insensitive buyer that can close without needing lots of risky debt.