Stock markets plunge in Europe and Asia but halt losses in the United States.

BarcelonaFears remain in financial markets around the world after US President Donald Trump declared his tariff war last week. Asian stock markets closed sharply lower on Monday due to fears of a new global recession, and European markets were also not immune to this downward trend at the opening session, despite slightly moderating their declines starting midday. However, US markets, which had opened Monday sharply lower, managed to salvage the day with minimal losses, and in some cases, positive gains.

The main index of the Spanish stock market, the Ibex 35, which plummeted 5.83% on Friday, began the week also dominated by a seemingly unstoppable decline that caused it to fall below the 12,000 point level, with an initial drop of 5% that at 3:3 p.m. ended the day with a drop of 5.12% and 11,785.8 points. In Europe, this panic selling is reflected in the Euro Stoxx 50, which incorporates the main stocks of the Old Continent, which began the day with sharp falls and closed the day with losses of 4.5%.

In the United States, the stock market opened with losses of between 3% and 4%. The Dow Jones, Wall Street's benchmark index, began the day with a 3.15% drop. The S&P 500, which represents the country's leading companies, also began the day with a decline, in this case of 3.5%, while the Nasdaq technology index fell 3.6% in the first minutes after the opening. At mid-session, the American stock market experienced a slight rebound, with all indices returning to the positive corner, only to later return to red—albeit with moderate declines—in a day of high volatility. Finally, the Dow Jones closed at -0.91%; the S&P did so at -0.23%, and the Nasdaq managed to hold its positive position, at +0.1%.

The rest of the major European stock markets also showed losses early in the day; Losses that continued—with some rebounds just before closing—through the end of the day. In London, Europe's main stock exchange, the FTSE-100 index lost 4.38%, while in Frankfurt the DAX also closed in the red, down 4.13%. In Paris, the CAC-40 fell 4.78%, and in Milan, the FTSE MIB fell 5.18%. In all European markets, the benchmark indices bottomed out during the session around midday, with drops of more than 6% across Europe, but their losses slowed thereafter.

Oil also continued its downward trend, with Brent crude oil, the benchmark in Europe, down 1.78% at the end of the day. Gold, a safe haven in times of market uncertainty, also fell 1.40% at 10:00 PM.

Asian stocks tumble

The balance on Asian stock markets suggested another dark day in the rest of the world, triggered by Trump's tariff policy. In Japan, the Nikkei closed Monday down 7.83%, although the largest drop was recorded in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng Index lost a staggering 13.22% in just one day. In mainland China, the Shanghai SSE lost 7.34%.

In Taiwan, the Taiex fell 9.7%, while in Singapore, the STI index lost 7.66%. Other Southeast Asian stock markets, such as Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, and Seoul, also closed the day with losses of more than 4%, as did the stock markets of Australia and New Zealand.