Europe open: Tariff fears dog Stoxx despite bullish US markets

(Sharecast News) - European shares opened lower on Tuesday, despite US indices hitting fresh highs overnight, as the continuing uncertainty over US tariffs on the European Union continued to dog sentiment.

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was down 0.25% to 545.24, with Germany's DAX down 0.33% and France's CAC-40 0.34% lower.

US stocks on Monday finished well below their highs for the day, though the S&P 500 and Nasdaq still managed to eke out new record highs, as the bull run continues ahead of a busy week for corporate earnings.

"The benchmark S&P500 and Nasdaq both hit record closing highs, buoyed in part by some increasingly optimistic estimates for numbers from the mega cap technology stocks, with Google owner Alphabet and Tesla first up to the plate this week," said Interactive Investor head of markets Richard Hunter.

"In the meantime, there was some notable buying of the likes of Meta Platforms and Amazon, underpinned by some year to date strength in Nvidia and Microsoft."

Meanwhile, investors are concerned that no real progress has been made on an EU-US trade deal ahead of an August 1 deadline for the imposition of a 30% tariff on goods imported from the 27-nation bloc.

In equity news, Norsk Hydro shares were up as the Norwegian renewable energy and aluminium company posted a 33% forecast-beating increase in core profit, driven by rising aluminium and energy prices.

Lender Julius Baer gained, despite missed first-half net profit estimates.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com