Before the bell: Magnificent 7 account for a third of U.S. losses

Trump doesn’t just dish out wild tariffs—he also served up a bloody Thursday on the stock markets. But there were winners too, like Elia and property stocks.

While Trump hit Asian countries with the steepest tariffs, their stock markets suffered the least on Thursday. Tokyo fell 2.8%, Hong Kong 1.5%, and mainland Chinese markets barely moved. Europe followed with slightly steeper—but far from catastrophic—losses. The Euro Stoxx 50 dropped 3.5%. The U.S. took the biggest hit: the S&P 500 plunged 4.8%, and the Nasdaq fell 6%. A staggering 3.1 trillion dollar in market value was wiped off American exchanges. Strikingly, 1 trillion dollar of that came from the Magnificent 7 alone. Are investors bracing for European retaliation against Big Tech, or are they simply cashing in after years of stellar gains? Apple, Amazon, and Meta all tumbled 9%. Microsoft (-2.4%) held up best.

This morning, Tokyo (-2.7%) and Hong Kong (-1.5%) are again in the red, continuing yesterday’s trend. It’s clear that the chaos won’t stop with just one “bloody Thursday.” Investors, both big and small, are still scratching their heads. Trump has said he’s open to negotiations, but Vice President Vance doubled down, saying “a bad day on the stock market is nothing compared to the prosperity ahead for America.” Today brings U.S. jobs data, but attention is already shifting to April numbers rather than March’s confidence readings.

Resilient or rising on bloody Thursday

On a red day like yesterday, it’s easier to spot the stocks that held their ground or even gained. Despite Belgium being lumped in with the 20% EU tariff, the Bel20 lost just 1.1%. Heavyweights Argenx (unchanged) and UCB (-1.1%) held up, as Trump (so far?) hasn’t imposed tariffs on pharmaceutical products—a win for Belgium’s pharma sector. Chips are also tariff-exempt, though it’s unclear if that includes automotive chips. Judging by Melexis (-6%) and X-Fab (-5.7%), investors think not. Elia was the star performer, rising 7.6%. It’s mostly locally active and, with a regulated return on essential investments in the high-voltage grid, it’s both a growth and a defensive stock (see the feature: “which stocks can weather Trump’s antics”). Elia is also set to benefit from Germany’s billion-euro stimulus packages. Real estate stocks had a good day too: Cofinimmo (+4.6%), Aedifica (+2.4%), and Montea (+1.4%) all finished in the green. Long-term interest rates fell amid fears of an economic slowdown.

Breaking under pressure

Compared to the Magnificent Seven’s mega-losses, it’s small potatoes. But in the Bel20, the biggest losers were Azelis (-4.2%), KBC (-4.5%), Melexis (-6%), and Umicore (-7.5%). Not all of this is rational. With Umicore, following years of decline, it might simply be capitulation by weary investors. They can no longer bear the falling stock and sell at any price. That’s rarely a good move. Bekaert (-6%) is a traditional industrial name typically sold off when growth slows. Investors seem to forget that the company is no longer the steelmaker it once was, has a solid balance sheet, and is dirt cheap. It may take time for these stocks to rebound, but patience is often richly rewarded.

Did you know…

that the U.S. services PMI confidence index fell to 50.8 points in March, down from 53.5 in February? That’s close to the level indicating contraction. The manufacturing PMI had already dipped below 50 earlier in the month.

This article was translated from Dutch and was originally published on Spaarvarkens.be.