Weekly Market Review: 10th of March 2025

In the US, a sweeping range of tariff measures were implemented on Canada, Mexico and China last week, with imports from Canada and Mexico being subject to a 25% tariff and China increased to 20%. However, just as quickly as the tariffs were imposed, the Trump administration completed a U-turn, granting a one-month reprieve on Canadian and Mexican tariffs. For the week, the S&P 500 closed -3.14% lower, while the NASDAQ closed -3.73% lower, on pace to record their biggest weekly slides since September. In Europe, the European Central Bank cut interest rates once again last week, reducing its three key benchmark rates by 25 basis points. For the week, due to global volatility, the Eurostoxx50 and STOXX600 closed slightly lower, down -0.15% and -0.86% respectively. In the UK, construction activity fell in February at the fastest pace since the height of the Covid pandemic. For the week, the FTSE 100 closed -1.76% lower. In Ireland, International Accounts were published for Q4 last week, with Ireland posting a current account balance of €18.2bn, or 12.6% of GDP. In Asia Pacific, the Chinese Government has once again targeted a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of “around 5%” for 2025, despite the fact that the country is currently in the midst of a burgeoning trade war with the US.