European stocks fall; political uncertainty depresses French market

Investing.com — European stocks fell on Tuesday. As markets follow Wall Street, investors are also concerned about additional tariffs that could come from the United States and political uncertainty in France.

At 10.35 Turkish time, the DAX index in Germany fell 0.5%. The CAC 40 in France fell 1.8% and the FTSE 100 in Britain lost 0.6%.

Is the independence of the Fed under threat?

European stocks continue the negative global mood. In the wake of the losses on Wall Street, concerns are growing about the independence of the Federal Reserve. US President Donald Trump has announced the removal of Governor Lisa Cook.

Cook denied Trump's authority to fire him. Cook responded: “I will continue to fulfill my duties to help the American economy.”

No president has ever tried to oust a Fed governor before. It is unclear what will happen next. But Cook's appeal of Trump's decision is likely to move to the Supreme Court.

Tariff threat due to digital taxes

In Europe, investors are wary of the US president's threat to countries with digital taxes. Trump said those countries would impose “additional tariffs” if they did not repeal the relevant laws.

Many countries impose taxes on the sales revenue of digital service providers such as Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon.

However, this move could be seen as an attack on the European Union's important Digital Services Act. This issue has been a long-standing issue for multiple U.S. administrations.

Political instability in France

In addition, political stability in France has again come into focus. The country's three main opposition parties have announced that they will not support the confidence vote sought by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou for his budget plans on September 8.

If the government falls, President Emmanuel Macron could immediately appoint a new prime minister. Or he could ask Bayrou to remain at the head of the interim government. Another option is to go to an early election.

Macron lost his previous prime minister, Michel Barnier, in a no-confidence vote on the budget in late 2024. Barnier had only been in office for three months after an early election in July of the same year.

BAT loses CFO

In the corporate sector, tobacco giant British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) announced the immediate resignation of finance director Soraya Benchikh after nearly 15 months in office.

Bakkafrost (OL:BAKKA) reported a decline in second-quarter earnings. Low salmon prices and costs associated with the incident in Scotland have negatively affected the results of the salmon producer in the Faroe Islands.

TX Group (SIX:TXGN) announces three-year share buyback program. The Swiss media company reported a sharp drop in first-half results, with declines in revenue, operating income and net profit.

Oil is down, but gold is up

Oil prices have fallen. It gave back some of the previous session's big gains. Traders are closely watching developments in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict for possible disruptions in regional fuel supplies.

At 10.35 Turkish time, Brent futures fell 0.6% to $67.78 per barrel. U.S. West Texas crude futures fell 0.8 percent to $64.29 per barrel.

Both contracts hit two-week highs on Monday. It rose nearly 2% as Ukraine attacked Russian energy infrastructure and traders expected more U.S. sanctions on Russian oil.

Gold prices rose. Growing concerns about the independence of the Federal Reserve after Trump said he had fired Governor Lisa Cook increased demand for safe havens.

Spot gold rose 0.2% to $3,373.99 an ounce. It had previously reached two-week highs. October gold futures rose 0.1 percent to $3,419.22 an ounce.

Cook's impeachment is Trump's latest attack on the Fed. The move comes at a time when the president is trying to gain more influence over the Fed's interest rate setting activities.

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