Europe midday: Shares down on tariff worries; Novo Nordisk slides

(Sharecast News) - European shares were down sharply on Monday, giving up early gains as worries over erratic US tariffs policies dented sentiment. The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 0.73% at 549.42. Germany's DAX was down almost 1%.

''Unease about the effect of Trump's tariffs hangs over financial markets at the start of the week. The prospect of a recession in the US is lurking, with consumer confidence falling, companies facing increasing trade complexity and investors turning more nervous," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.

"China's deflation problem is also weighing on sentiment, and geopolitical concerns are staying in focus, with attacks on Ukraine intensifying."

In economic news, German industrial production rose in January by 2% compared with the previous month, the federal statistics office said on Monday.

It cited sharp rises in the automotive, food and machine maintenance and assembly industries as the main drivers of the rise. A decrease in production in the manufacture of fabricated metal products had a negative effect.

In a separate release, the statistics office said January exports were down 2.5% and imports were up 1.2% on a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis compared with December 2024.

Based on provisional data exports decreased by 0.1% and imports rose by 8.7% compared with January 2024.

In equity news, Assura surged after the UK healthcare real estate investment trust received an indicative, non-binding £1.61bn proposal from KKR and Stonepeak Partners.

Novo Nordisk shares fell after the pharma giant released fresh trial results for its CagriSema developmental weight-loss drug.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com