Paris (AFP)

Overwhelmed by the resumption of the Sino-US trade dispute, revived without warning by Donald Trump, the stock market indexes fell sharply on Friday, while safe havens, such as gold or German debt, skyrocketed.

"It's a new day for the European markets (...) after President Trump threw the pieces of the trading board into the air," said Michael Hewson, an analyst at CMC Markets. "Nervousness in Sino-US trade has put investors on the defensive."

While investors were just recovering from the meeting of the US Federal Reserve, not enough accommodating to their liking, the US president set fire to the dust on Thursday night saying that his administration was to impose, from September 1, additional tariffs of 10% on the 300 billion dollars of Chinese imports hitherto spared.

These statements first hit Wall Street, still open, before spreading on Friday to Asia, where Tokyo fell by 2.1%, and then to the European markets.

On Friday, the New York Stock Exchange continued to decline: around 6:15 pm (16:15 GMT) the Dow Jones yielded 0.73%, Nasdaq 1.42% and the S & P 500 0.81%.

In Europe, all the markets have left feathers: the Paris Stock Exchange plummeted 3.57%, that of Frankfurt 3.11% and London of 2.34%.

In the first line, commodities, like ArcelorMittal in Paris or Glencore in London, were very affected. Semiconductors also, like STMicroelectronics on the CAC 40 or Infineon on the Dax.

"This is again an escalation" of Sino-US trade tensions, which "shows the lack of consistency of Trump's communication", whereas just a few days ago, the US administration indicated that "the discussions were going well, "said AFP analyst Alexandre Baradez, an analyst at IG France.

The Chinese reply was not long, Beijing threatening Friday to take retaliatory measures.

"It is not difficult to understand how this sudden escalation took the markets of short", even as they hoped that "the resumption of negotiations would result in at least a short period of ceasefire", Hewson added.

"It's hard to understand what the president has in mind," he said, "as these taxes are likely to hit its base, since the products involved include basic American consumption like toys, clothing or appliances ".

- The German debt in the abyss -

In any case, his action could further weaken the dollar, as he wishes, according to the expert.

The greenback has clearly lost ground against the euro since Thursday night. Friday around 18H30 (16H30 GMT), the European currency climbed to 1,1108 dollars against 1,1085 at 21:00 GMT the day before.

"The new tariffs could be a blow to the Fed from Donald Trump, who felt" his policy "was not accommodating enough," and push "to further lower rates in the next meeting, "said Christopher Dembik, head of economic research at Saxo Bank.

The US Central Bank lowered its rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday but Donald Trump, who had called for a "sharp" drop, quickly expressed his disappointment.

Assets considered as refuges, conversely, have been largely favored by anxious investors.

The yen appreciated strongly, as did gold, which reached a new high since 2013 at $ 1,450.30 an ounce.

In the bond market, the US 10-year borrowing rate remained below the 2% mark, at 1.881% around 16.30 GMT, after falling to the lowest level since November 2016.

In Europe, that of Germany, the "Bund", which serves as a reference to the market, fell into negative territory, falling to -0.504%, before rising to -0.497% at the close, resulting in its wake the German rate at thirty, which has briefly gone into negative territory.

© 2019 AFP