Germany’s Thyssenkrupp pops 10%; Europe stocks extend gains as euro zone inflation eases

Annual euro zone inflation dipped as expected to 2.2% in March, according to flash data from statistics agency Eurostat published Tuesday.

The Tuesday print sits just below the 2.3% final reading for February.

The figures, which are harmonized across the euro area for comparability, boosted expectations for a further 25-basis-point interest rate cut from the European Central Bank during its upcoming meeting on April 17. 

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— Sophie Kiderlin

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday that his government was in “advanced” talks with the U.S. over potential economic deals as tariffs loom.

“I don’t think anybody wants to see tariffs. We’re working hard on an economic deal which we’ve made rapid progress on, and I hope we can make really speedy resolutions on,” Starmer told Sky News.

Starmer added that the discussions, which would normally “take months or years,” were “well advanced.”

“The likelihood is there will be tariffs. Nobody welcomes that. We’re obviously working with the sectors most impacted at pace on that. Nobody wants to see a trade war. But I have to act in the national interest, and that means that all options have to remain on the table,” Starmer said.

Keir Starmer, British prime minister, at Downing Street in London on March 31, 2025.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

On whether that meant refraining from retaliatory tariffs in the short term, Starner said, “I’m not going to go ahead of myself. But I am talking to the sectors most impacted, and I think what they want most is a calm and collected response to this, not a knee-jerk response.”

“We are of course negotiating an economic deal which will I hope mitigate the tariffs.”

While the U.K. is set to be hit by several of U.S. President Donald Trump’s universal tariffs, including those already introduced on steel and aluminum, analysts say the country may avoid the kind of direct action the U.S. has threatened on the likes of the European Union, thanks to its more balanced trade relationship. Starmer visited the White House in February, where he appeared to strike a friendly tone with Trump, who said following the meeting that the U.K. could broker a “real trade deal.”

— Jenni Reid

European Council President Antonio Costa (left) speaking with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (right) and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola before a debate on the conclusions of the European Council meeting of March 20, 2025, as part of a plenary session at the European Parliament on April 1, 2025, in Strasbourg, eastern France.

Frederick Florin | Afp | Getty Images

The European Union is open to negotiations with the U.S. on tariffs but will take retaliatory measures if necessary, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech Tuesday.

“We are open to negotiations. We will approach these negotiations from a position of strength. Europe holds a lot of cards, from trade to technology to the size of our market. But this strength is also built on our readiness to take firm counter-measures if necessary. All instruments are on the table,” she said.

Von der Leyen repeatedly stressed that the EU disagreed with the escalation in trade disputes triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump, and said countries should work together to tackle issues such as overcapacity, imbalances, unfair subsidies, denial of market access and intellectual property theft.

“But my message to you today is we have everything we need to protect our people and our prosperity. We have the largest single market in the world, we have the strength to negotiate, we have the power to push back,” she said.

Von der Leyen said the EU’s other approaches to the looming “reciprocal tariffs” would be to strengthen its trade relationships with other partners and double down on its own single market.

— Jenni Reid

European stock markets opened higher Tuesday, with the Stoxx 600 index up 1% at 8:08 a.m. U.K. time.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 and Germany’s DAX were both around 1% higher, while France’s CAC 40 rose 0.8%.

Stoxx 600 index.

U.S. President Donald Trump is counting on a longer-term rebound in the economy and markets with his extreme tariff plan, but he is playing a “dangerous game,” according to one strategist.

“The market will take some time to digest what’s happening tomorrow, I don’t think we will see a big relief in the sense that Trump will come out and provide sweets to the market, saying tariffs will be less severe than what’s suspected,” Wolf von Rotberg, equity strategist at Safra Sarasin Sustainable Asset Management, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday.

“I would think that through the year he’ll likely keep the temperature quite high,” von Rotberg said, adding that this is because of Trump’s experience as president in 2018 to 2019 when the Federal Reserve was in a similar stage of a cycle of rate hikes and cuts.

“Back then he broke the back of the cycle, he broke the back of the equity market, but he also brought the Fed to turn much move dovish and he had a much better year in 2019. The cycle recovered, growth picked up, was great in the third quarter of 2019, consumption came back and the equity market had rebounded by April … Trump is not thinking about the immediate impact but one step further,” von Rotberg told CNBC.

U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to sign an executive order related to the U.S. live entertainment ticketing industry in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., March 31, 2025.

Leah Millis | Reuters

“He won’t provide a put to the market, the only put which can be provided to the market is the Fed, and in order to get the Fed to ease and turn more dovish from where they are he needs to produce some downside on the cycle and he may have to produce some downside on the market as well.”

Wolf von Rotberg added that this was a “dangerous game,” since inflation remains well above target and could be pushed higher by inflation, curbing any Fed pivot — and because the U.S. government deficit has widened and would likely increase during a downturn, fueling fears in the rates market.

— Jenni Reid

European markets are expected to open higher Tuesday as global markets prepare for U.S. President Donald Trump’s previously announced trade tariffs to come into force.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 31 points higher at 8,689, Germany’s DAX up 88 points at 22,251, France’s CAC 8 points higher at 7,798 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 77 points higher at 38,816, according to data from IG. 

Data releases include the latest EU inflation print.

— Holly Ellyatt

Gold/USD

The price of the precious metal has been on the rise as investors flock to the safe haven asset amid concerns around U.S. President Donald Trump’s fresh tariffs.

— Amala Balakrishner