1436 GMT - Spanish, French and Greek banks are best positioned in Europe to deal with U.S. reciprocal tariffs, Jefferies says in a research note. This is due to their respective countries' relative low exposure to U.S. exports and manufacturing. GDP exposure to U.S. trade was less than 2% for these countries in 2024, compared with 13.5% for Ireland, 5.4% for Belgium, 3.8% for the Netherlands, 3.7% for Germany and 3.0% for Italy. "Despite not being directly targeted, banks could suffer second-order impacts through lower GDP growth and negative effects on the creditworthiness of financed sectors," analysts write. Jefferies's top picks in those regions are BBVA, Societe Generale and National Bank of Greece. (elena.vardon@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 03, 2025 10:36 ET (14:36 GMT)
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