05:45 AM EST, 02/19/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Commerzbank in its "European Sunrise" note of Wednesday highlighted:

Markets: United States Treasuries fall into New York close, sideways in Asia. E-minis advance further in Asia after SPX had recovered earlier losses, Asian equities mixed. EUR stronger at $1.045, Brent rises above $76/barrel.

Tariffs: U.S. President Donald Trump says he will impose tariffs on cars "in the neighborhood of 25%" from April 2 onwards, adds that tariffs on pharmaceuticals and chips would also start at "25% or higher."

U.S.: Trump signs executive order to bring independent agencies under the control of the White House, including the FCC, FTC and SEC, as well as the Federal Reserve's regulatory tasks.

Ukraine: Trump blames Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for allowing "a war to go on that should have never happened." Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the U.S. will keep sanctions on Russia in place at least until a deal is reached. Trump says he may meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of February. French President Emmanuel Macron invited European Nato leaders and Canada to a virtual meeting today.

Middle East: Hamas offers to release all hostages in exchange for Israel's full withdrawal, says it aims for a "permanent ceasefire."

==EUROPE:

EU: the European Union is working on an initiative to provide Ukraine with additional hundreds of billions of euros in military support as soon as possible this year, with member states to be assigned a financial quota based on their gross domestic product which is to be paid in kind or cash (Bloomberg). EU to propose defense funding options in mid-March (FT). Denmark is open to a bigger EU budget and joint debt.

Italy: BTP Piu bond orders amount to 3.7 billion euros on the second day and 9.3 billion euros cumulatively, compared with an average of 9.4 billion euros after two days in the previous four issues.

==ASIA:

Japan: Bank of Japan board member Hajime Takata says rates should be raised further but cautions to proceed carefully, especially as uncertainty over the U.S. economy remains.