The fall of Asian and European stock markets had a negative impact on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), where generalized decreases were recorded. All stock market indices have recorded significant reductions since the beginning of Monday’s session. The representative BET index reached, in the first part of the day, a decrease of 3.6%, the composite index BET-XT at 3.1%, the energy index BET-NG at 2.7%. All the 20 most traded stocks are in the red, with the biggest decrease recorded by Transelectrica (6.5%), MedLife (6.1%), Teraplast (5.7%), Purcari Wineries Public Company Limited (5.5%), Sphera Franchise Group (5.1%), Premier Energy (4.7%) and BRD (4.1%).
The capitalization of the Bucharest Stock Exchange decreased by over 28 billion lei in the week ending Sunday, marked by the announcement of US President Donald Trump regarding the imposition of new customs duties.
Between March 31 and April 4, the capitalization of the BVB (stock market) decreased to 345.508 billion lei, the lowest value of shares this year, from 373.548 in the previous week, amid an increasing number of stock transactions – 30,526 compared to 23,588, according to Agerpres.
The US president announced, on April 2, customs duties of 20% for products imported from the European Union, 34% for those from China, 31% for Switzerland, 26% for India, 10% for the United Kingdom, 10% for Brazil. Donald Trump has insisted that any product entering the US will be taxed at least 10%.
Asia’s main stock indexes fell sharply on Monday, with European shares also opening sharply lower. The plunge reflected a sense that White House officials will not abandon their sweeping tariff plans, and investors are betting that the growing risk of a recession could lead to a U.S. interest rate cut as early as May, Reuters reports.
Donald Trump after the stock market’s shock
US President Donald Trump published a message on social media on Monday at 6:49 am Washington time, writing that his tariffs led to a drop in oil prices and that they did not cause inflation in the US at all, given that the trade war he triggered caused massive declines in financial markets.
“Oil prices are down, interest rates are down (the slow moving Fed should cut rates!), food prices are down, there is NO INFLATION, and the long time abused USA is bringing in Billions of Dollars a week from the abusing countries on Tariffs that are already in place. This is despite the fact that the biggest abuser of them all, China, whose markets are crashing, just raised its Tariffs by 34%, on top of its long term ridiculously high Tariffs (Plus!), not acknowledging my warning for abusing countries not to retaliate. They’ve made enough, for decades, taking advantage of the Good OL’ USA! Our past “leaders” are to blame for allowing this, and so much else, to happen to our Country. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!,” Trump wrote on his social network Truth Social in a message published at 1:49 p.m. Romanian time.