Investors catch your breath after hectic trade week, profits in Europe and Asia

This article was last updated on April 14, 2025

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Investors catch your breath after hectic trade week, profits in Europe and Asia

Investors seem to be recovering today after last week’s roller coaster on the stock exchange. In Amsterdam the AEX opened this morning with a small win. After an hour of trade, the stock market index was more than 2 percent in the Plus. All funds were on a profit on the signs, with the more than 4 percent for insurer Aegon as the leader.

The same plus of about 2 percent was on the signs at the stock markets in Frankfurt, Paris, London and Milan. The mood seems to have blown over from Asia, where the stock markets of China and Japan also started the new trade week positively. Investors seemed to be relieved there about exceptions that US President Trump wants to make at his trading rates for smartphones, memory chips, computers and other electronics.

No euphoria

Of great euphoria, like Thursday, is certainly not yet the case. That day, the stock markets shot up worldwide when Trump was a bit back on the way by postponing a number of taxes. But when the investors became clear that postponing does not mean a cancellation, the stock exchanges dropped on Friday again.

On Sunday Trump still wrote his Truth Social That “nobody with unfair trade rates against the US just gets away with it”. “Certainly not China,” the president added. Trump also announced that he would also look at taxes on semiconductors needed for the production of chips. He wants them to be made in the United States.

Remarkably, chip companies are doing well on the stock markets today. In the first hour, semiconductor machines producer Besi is one of the big winners on the AEX. But ASML and ASM International (AMSI) were also in the Plus.

Expensive euros

Investors may have more confidence, because the European Central Bank (ECB) seems to be reducing interest this week. More and more analysts are expecting this. Last month, ECB president Christine Lagarde hinted at the reduction of interest rates 2.5 percent Still on a break. At ING, economist Carsten Brzeski is now convinced that the ECB is “forced” to reduce the interest on Thursday to 2.25 percent due to the unrest in the financial markets and the more expensive euro.

A lower ECB interest rate makes money borrow cheaper. And it helps to boost the economy in the eurozone by increasing production. The value of the dollar is falling considerably due to the trade war that Trump has unleashed, while the euro rises in value. Although the extra trading rates have been postponed, the levying of 10 percent remains. An expensive euro makes European products extra expensive in the US.

Whether American investors also have some faith in it should be apparent this afternoon when the New York stock exchange opens.