Europe midday: Shares slide as Trump promises more, not less, war

2nd Apr 2026 11:21

(Sharecast News) - European shares extended losses and oil surged to $108 a barrel after US President Donald Trump dashed investor hopes that his war of choice on Iran would end soon, saying Washington would hit the country "extremely hard" over the next two to three weeks.

Asian shares turned red overnight after an underwhelming 19-minute speech from Trump which largely rehashed pronouncements about the war's objectives made over the last five weeks. Countries in the region are heavily dependent on oil exports from the Gulf.

The optimistic mood from Wednesday spurred by hopes the conflict was coming to an end turned sour as soon as European markets opened as traders went into risk-off mode, with the pan-regional Stoxx 600 index down 1.19% to 590.58 at 1149 BST. Germany's DAX slumped 1.89%, France's CAC 40 1.13%, the UK's FTSE 0.22%, Italy's MIB 1.41% and Spain's IBEX 1.46%.

To compound matters, crude prices jumped again after Trump repeated his demand that nations reliant on Gulf oil "take the lead" in breaking Iran's chokehold on the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

Benchmark Brent crude jumped 7.33% to $108.6 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate gained 8% to $108.2. BP, Eni, Repsol and Shell all gained as a result.

Month-ahead gas on the Dutch exchange rose 5% to €49.96 per kilowatt hour, boosting shares in British Gas owner Centrica.

"In what might be the most dramatic April Fools' of recent years, Donald Trump did nothing of what was expected in his speech. Instead of 'no more war', we got 'no, more war!', with heavier strikes expected and a fresh warning of attacks on power plants," said IG chief analyst Chris Beauchamp.

"This leaves markets back where they were last week, and now we have to price in hundreds of millions of barrels of oil that aren't coming out any time soon. The gloomy predictions of last week would have been perhaps misplaced if Trump had signalled a quick end, but now markets are back to pricing in economic catastrophe."

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com