Rolls-Royce: FTSE 100 giant sees shares crash as global trade war revs up
Shares in FTSE giant Rolls-Royce sank as much as 10 per cent on Friday after fears of a global trade war exploded.
Global markets tumbled after China announced a 34 per cent retaliatory tariff against the US.
Rolls-Royce, which is a prominent exporter of aircraft and marine engines and power systems, saw its stock price fall to a one month low of 682p.
Its business is extensively tied to the global supply chain, sourcing components from various countries and shipping finished products worldwide.
The FTSE 100 was down as much as 3.8 per cent. The FTSE 250 fell over three per cent.
The UK was slapped with a ten per cent import tax during Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ speech, which was the baseline rate.
‘Countless sectors’ to be hit
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: “With markets having suffered their worst week in five years, investors were hiding under their duvet on Friday hoping the pain would go away.
“Unfortunately, the relentless selling continued, with markets falling across Asia and Europe and futures prices implying the US will do the same when trading begins later on.”
He said “countless sectors” would be hit by the economic turmoil, but the level of “moving parts” made it difficult to “know where to begin to comprehend the situation”.
European markets were also stung by the escalations. Germany’s Dax fell nearly five per cent and France’s Cac 40 sunk over four per cent.
During his speech, Trump announced a 20 per cent rate for European Union imports to the US.
The President said the “worst offenders” were handed the steepest levies, as he repeated narratives that the US had been “taken advantage of”.
Derren Nathan, head of equity research Hargreaves Lansdown: “Despite months of sabre-rattling by Donald Trump, markets appear to have been unprepared for the depth and breadth of tariffs announced by the White House.”