European Shares Likely To Drift Lower As Transatlantic Tensions Rise

(RTTNews) - European stocks may drift lower on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump accused the European Union of cheating the United States, sparking tensions and threats of new tariffs.

The European Commission shot back that the European Union is "the world's largest free market" and has been "a boon for the United States".

In another development, Russia has accused the European Union of trying to block a peace deal for the Ukraine war.

A planned meeting between European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was abruptly cancelled Wednesday due to "scheduling issues."

It "seems that the Trump administration doesn't miss a chance to show that for them the EU is not a player," an EU diplomat commented on the cancelled meeting.

U.S. stock futures were mostly higher while Asian markets traded mixed after Nvidia forecast first-quarter revenue above market estimates. CEO Jensen Huang said demand for their Blackwell chips has been "amazing".

Tariff worries lifted the dollar in Asian trade while gold prices fell about 1 percent and oil clung to modest gains.

In economic releases, Eurozone economic sentiment survey results, German unemployment data and U.S. reports on jobless claims, durable goods orders and pending home sales may attract attention later in the day.

U.S. stocks ended mixed overnight after President Trump threatened to slap 25 percent tariff on imports from the European Union and indicated that the effective date of the levies on imports from Mexico and Canada could be pushed back from March 4th to April 2nd, the same day he purportedly plans to announce reciprocal tariffs on other U.S. trade partners.

The S&P 500 ended marginally higher and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite edged up by 0.3 percent to snap four-session losing streaks as chip stocks rebounded ahead of AI darling Nvidia's results.

The narrower Dow dipped 0.4 percent after two straight days of slight gains. European stocks closed at a record high on Wednesday after Ukraine and the U.S. agreed on a draft minerals deal.

The pan European STOXX 600 jumped 1 percent. The German DAX rallied 1.7 percent, France's CAC 40 surged 1.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 advanced 0.7 percent.