DAX Remains Deep Down In Negative Territory After Sharp Plunge

(RTTNews) - A day after snapping a four-session losing streak, German stocks are down in the red again, with investors pressing sales on Wednesday, reacting to the rollout of sweeping U.S. tariffs, that include a 20% levy on EU imports.

The benchmark DAX was down 481.03 points or 2.37% at 19,774.85 a little while ago. The index had tumbled to 19,552.53 earlier in the morning, losing more than 700 points.

Sartorius, Vonovia and MTU Aero Engines are declining 3.3 to 3.7%. Qiagen, Merck, Brenntag, Deutsche Telekom, BASF, Fresenius Medical Care, Fresenius, Henkel, Deutsche Post, BMW, Siemens Healthineers, Allianz, Adidas, Siemens, Continental, Beiersdorf and Zalando are down 2 to 3%.

Bayer, Heidelberg Materials, Mercedes-Benz, Hannover Rueck, Rheinmetall, Deutsche Bank, RWE, Siemens Energy, Porsche and SAP are also notably lower.

Recession fears and trade war tensions have risen again as the European Commission is contemplating retaliatory tariffs of up to 25% on U.S. exports worth over 22 billion euros.

U.S. President Donald Trump pushed ahead with higher duties on roughly 60 trading partners that he dubbed the "worst offenders." The latest set of U.S. tariffs, including a massive 104% levy on Chinese imports, take effect today.

Trump also proposed the imposition of a "major" tariff on drug imports in a bid to stimulate domestic drug production and tripled the previously announced tariff rates on low-value packages exported to the U.S. from mainland China and Hong Kong.

Investors are also closely following the developments on the political front as the conservatives and Social Democrats resume their coalition talks this morning.