On a day where global stock markets climbed to their highest level in 2019, there was some potentially bad news for Europe, as there are real fears Trump could impose new tariffs on the EU’s car industry. The US Department of Commerce has filed a report outlining whether the EU auto industry is a national security threat. Donald Trump now has 90 days to read the report (or have it read to him), and decide whether to impose levies of up to 25%.
The all-important ZEW economic sentiment indices from Germany and the eurozone will be released today and will give us an idea of future expectations for their economies. Both readings are expected to improve slightly, although firmly remain in negative territory. We will also see the eurozone’s construction output figures for December. The markets are expecting an increase of 2.1% from 0.9% in November.
