Swiss Market Ends Sharply Lower On Trade War Fears

(RTTNews) - Swiss stocks fell sharply on Friday, mirroring losses across Europe and elsewhere, as the Trump Administration's sweeping tariffs on trade partners, and retaliatory move announced by China, and possible countermeasures by a few other major countries as well, raised fears of a possible global recession.

Trump's moved prompted several European leaders to warn of retaliatory measures. French President Macro reportedly called on companies to suspend planned investments in the U.S.

Criticizing Trump's decision to impose 34% of additional reciprocal levies on China, which raises total U.S. tariffs against the country to 54%, as "inconsistent with international trade rules," China's finance ministry said today that it will impose a 34% tariff on all goods imported from the U.S. starting on April 10.

The benchmark SMI closed down 630.65 points or 5.14% at 11,648.83, after sliding to a low of 11,531.79.

Julius Baer closed down 8.17%. Partners Group, Swiss Re, Sandoz Group, Alcon, Zurich Insurance, Richemont and Roche Holding lost 6 to 7.7%.

Adecco, Swiss Life Holding, Holcim, Novartis, UBS Group, Straumann Holding, Logitech International, Swatch Group, Lonza Group, VAT Group and ABB lost 4.2 to 5.75%.

Sika, Nestle, Schindler Ps, SGS, SIG Group, Geberit, Swisscom, Kuehne + Nagel and Sonova ended lower by 2.5 to 3.7%.

In economic news, data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, said the unadjusted unemployment rate in Switzerland stood at 2.9% in March, the same as in February.

In the corresponding month last year, the jobless rate was 2.4%.

The youth unemployment rate, which is applied to the 15-24 age group, edged down to 2.6% from 2.7%.

Data also showed that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate rose to 2.8% from 2.7%.