By Tom Wilson
LONDON (Reuters) – Share markets climbed on Wednesday, buoyed by investor hopes of a wave of trade agreements with the United States after Japan struck a deal that lowers U.S. tariffs on its autos, sending Japanese stocks to a one-year high.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday said a trade deal with Tokyo would include Japan paying a lower-than-threatened 15% tariff on shipments to the U.S. It followed an agreement with the Philippines that will see the U.S. collect a 19% tariff rate on imports from there.
Trump also said EU representatives would be visiting for trade negotiations on Wednesday. That stirred hopes for a deal with Europe, even as the EU was reportedly refining countermeasures in case of a deadlock before the August 1 deadline.
Euro STOXX 600 added 0.9%, with auto shares surging 3.4%. UK shares hit a record high, climbing 0.5%.
The trade deal news has “raised hopes that the U.S. might be about to reach deals with other countries that avoid the higher tariffs on August 1,” Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a note.
The positive mood was set to reach Wall Street, too, where S&P 500 futures were up 0.4%, while Nasdaq futures added 0.2%.
Japan’s Nikkei climbed 3.7% as automaker shares surged on news the deal would cut the U.S. auto tariff to 15%, from a proposed 25%. Mazda Motor rose 18%, while Toyota Motor jumped 14%.
South Korean automakers also rose as the Japan deal fuelled optimism over potential progress in tariff negotiations between South Korea and the United States.
The dollar remained weak, having lost ground overnight.
It fell 0.3% against the Japanese yen to 146.25 yen after sliding 0.5% on Tuesday. The dollar index, which tracks the currency against major peers, was little changed at 97.48.
Analysts noted the trade deal reduced a major risk to the fragile Japanese economy, providing more scope for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates to fight inflation.
That hit the bond market, with yields for 10-year JGBs rising 8.5 basis points to 1.585%.
The yen steadied as Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba denied reports he planned to step down following a bruising upper house election defeat. Ishiba said media reports that he had already decided to resign were “completely unfounded.”
EXTENDED DEADLINES
In another positive development, U.S. and Chinese officials will meet in Stockholm next week to discuss an extension to the August 12 deadline for negotiating a trade deal, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Chinese blue-chips ended flat, while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 1.5%.
U.S. corporate earnings reports were showing signs that Trump’s trade war was hitting profit margins. General Motors tumbled 8.1% after the automaker reported a $1 billion hit from tariffs to its quarterly results.
Investors are awaiting results from Tesla and Google’s parent Alphabet – two of the Magnificent 7 stocks that have driven much of the market rally fuelled by AI optimism.
Elsewhere, the euro dipped 0.1% to $1.1737, after rising 0.5% the previous day. The European Central Bank is expected to hold rates steady on Thursday after eight consecutive rate cuts.
Oil prices fell for a fourth session. U.S. crude fell 0.7% to $64.48 per barrel. Brent dropped the same amount to $68.11 per barrel.
(Reporting by Tom Wilson in London and Stella Qiu and Wayne Cole in Sydney; Editing by Jane Merriman and Bernadette Baum)
