Weekly Market Review: 10th of February 2025

In the US, President Trump pushed ahead with his first round of tariffs on China, implementing a 10% duty on all Chinese imports. For the week, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ closed 1.21% and 1.19% higher. In Europe, the European Commission began preparing measures that will target US companies, specifically Big Tech firms should the threat of Trump tariffs on the EU escalate. For the week the Eurostoxx50 and STOXX600 closed higher, up 2.48% and 2.00% respectively. In the UK, the Bank of England held its first meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee for 2025 and as expected, cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.50%. For the week the FTSE 100 closed 1.49% higher. In Ireland, in the wake of Storm Éowyn, the ESB will now be tasked by the Government to develop a Winter 2025 grid resilience plan by the end of February. In Asia Pacific, the proposed $58bn merger between two of Japan’s largest carmakers, Honda and Nissan, collapsed last week after Honda proposed to turn Nissan into a fully owned subsidiary of the company.