Tag: politics of Germany

(For a live blog on European stocks, type LIVE/ in an Eikon news window) LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) - European shares opened lower on Monday as on-going worries about the U.S. trade policies and concerns about German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition weighed on sentiment. The pan-European STOXX 600 was down about 1.2 percent by 0730 GMT in line with Germany’s trade-sensitive DAX. In London, the FTSE 100 was down 1.1 percent and British gambling technology company Playtech posted the worst performance, losing over 20 percent after it disappointed investors with a trading update. Among rare winners, British software company Micro Focus International was up 3.3 percent after it said it had agreed to sell its Linux operating system SUSE business to a private equity fund advised by Sweden’s EQT Partners for $2.535 billion. In the mid-cap segment of the market, Vedanta Resources surged over 25 percent after chairman Anil Agarwal’s family trust agreed to a deal that values the mining conglomerate at 2.3 billion pounds. Milan’s FTSE MIB was down 1.9 percent with Italian pharmaceutical group Recordati falling over 15 percent after a consortium of investment funds controlled by CVC Capital Partners has agreed to buy a stake at a discount. (Reporting by Julien Ponthus; Editing by Toby Chopra)

SINGAPORE (AP) — Global stocks dropped Monday on concerns over trade as the U.S. and China scheduled the start of tariffs on each other's goods, and a row over migrants threatened the German government. Markets in China and Hong Kong were closed for a holiday. KEEPING SCORE: Germany's DAX lost 1.3 percent to 12,839 and France's CAC 40 shed 1.2 percent to 5,433. Dow futures dropped 0.7 percent and the S&P 500 futures were down 0.6 percent. U.S.-CHINA TARIFFS: Tariffs mooted by the world's two biggest economies are set to take effect from July 6, bolstering fears of a trade war. ASIA'S DAY: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.8 percent to close at 22,680.33. Southeast Asian indexes were mostly lower. ENERGY: Oil futures were mixed after reports that OPEC countries plan to increase production of oil at a meeting this week. The contract lost $1.83 to settle at $65.06 per barrel on Friday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gained 66 cents to $74.10 in London.

On Sunday, 68 per cent of the members of the Social Democrats (SPD) voted for another Grand Coalition with Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union CDU (and Christian Social Union in Bavaria). Some have remarked that hers was a quiet power, that she changed the style of politics in the German Federal Republic. Before Merkel became Chancellor in 2005, no woman had held high political office. It is often overlooked that West Germany effectively banned women’s right to choose before the unification of Germany in 1990. On her watch, Germany became a more social democracy – with small “s”. The late Guido Westerwelle became Germany’s first openly gay Cabinet Minister when he served as Merkel’s foreign secretary between 2009 and 2013. But what is most remarkable is the near dominance of women in the two largest parties. After an internal jockeying for position, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer was chosen as the new Secretary General of the CDU. In Germany, politics is a feminist issue. Matthew Qvortrup’s book Angela Merkel: Europe’s Most Influential Leader is published by Duckworth.