European Shares Eye Gap-down Open

(RTTNews) - European stocks may open sharply lower on Friday as the U.S. prepares to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China with effect from March 4.

Trump's tariff proposals as well as doubts over the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology rattled investors and deepened concerns about the outlook for inflation, interest rates and economic growth.

Meanwhile, trading later in the day may also be driven by reaction to the U.S. Commerce Department's reports on personal income and spending in January, which includes the Federal Reserve's preferred consumer price inflation readings.

Key benchmark indexes in Asia fell 1-3 percent after Trump proposed 25 percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods will take effect on March 4 along with an extra 10 percent duty on Chinese imports over the fentanyl opioid crisis.

His comments came as officials from Mexico and Canada were in Washington for discussions aimed at heading off that plan.

The dollar hovered near multi-week highs ahead of Trump's impending tariffs while gold was on track to end an eight-week winning streak.

Oil was little changed after seeing its daily gain in more than six weeks in the previous session amid supply concerns as the U.S. revoked oil giant Chevron Corporation's license to operate in Venezuela.

U.S. stocks tumbled overnight due to lukewarm response to Nvidia's earnings and rising concerns over tariffs and growth.

In economic releases, applications for U.S. unemployment benefits rose to the highest this year, pending sales of existing homes slumped to a record low in January and economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter while new orders for manufactured durable goods rose in January after two consecutive months of declines, separate set of data revealed.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged 2.8 percent to a nearly four-month closing low amid much uncertainty about the potential impact of policies coming out of the White House.

The S&P 500 and the Dow fell 1.6 percent and half a percent, respectively to reach one-month closing lows.

European stocks closed lower on Thursday as Trump's tariff plans fanned trade war fears.

The pan European STOXX 600 dropped half a percent. The German DAX lost 1.1 percent and France's CAC 40 shed half a percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent after Rolls-Royce lifted its mid-term targets and also announced a share buyback.