US benchmark equity indexes ended lower Thursday as President Trump warned that significant import duties could affect the European Union's alcohol products, while cooling producer prices failed to inspire confidence among investors. President Trump threatened to impose a 200% tariff on imports of European alcoholic products in response to retaliatory duties announced by the EU on Wednesday.
The US administration's 25% global levies on steel and aluminum imports took effect that day, prompting a reaction from the EU and fueling concerns that a protracted trade war could be starting. The US producer price index remained unchanged in February, compared with an upwardly revised 0.6% increase in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This print lagged behind the 0.3% growth estimate in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. Year over year, overall producer prices were up 3.2% last month versus a 3.7% rise in January, trailing the 3.3% rate estimated by the Street. In commodity markets, April West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed down $1.07 to settle at $66.61 per barrel, while May Brent crude, the global benchmark, was last seen down $1.08 to $69.87 as the International Energy Agency projected that higher global demand this year will coincide with rising inventories, while cautioning that its outlook is clouded by concerns surrounding US trade wars. In corporate news, Intel appointed semiconductor industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan as its new chief executive, effective March 18.
Tan, who previously served as the CEO of Cadence Design Systems, will succeed interim co-CEOs David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus. Following this announcement, the chipmaker's shares surged by 14%. On the flip side, Adobe shares slumped over 14%. A recent Morgan Stanley note indicated that a clearer roadmap is needed to dispel the apathy surrounding the stock, even after the software company's Q1 results topped estimates..