European companies are facing a "tsunami of uncertainty", with frequent profit warnings from the Stoxx 600 index component stocks.

Notice that European companies are trying to find a way out of the trade war, but their confidence has dropped to the lowest level in at least 20 years. An analysis of earnings call transcripts shows that in the first quarter of companies in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, the word "uncertainty" was mentioned more times than during the pandemic, the first term of President Trump, and the global financial crisis. In contrast, the word "confidence" was mentioned at its lowest level in five years. During the last major confidence crisis, in the first quarter of 2021, the word "confidence" was mentioned more times than "uncertainty" in European analyst telephone conferences, as the global vaccine rollout officially began, pointing the way out of repeated lockdowns. In the following four years, the mention of "confidence" consistently surpassed "uncertainty" until last month. After President Trump announced comprehensive tariffs on April 2, European companies had to assess the direct impact of tariffs and the indirect impact of the trade war on the global economy. Swedish private equity giant EQT AB mentioned "uncertainty" 24 times in analyst calls, more than any other company, discussing the impact of trade tensions on deal activity. CEO Christian Sinding said, "As long as volatility remains high, there is a lot of uncertainty in the world, and we do expect slowdowns in exit activity." Danish hearing aid manufacturer GN Store Nord AS followed closely, answering analysts' questions in a conference call after lowering their annual expectations. CEO Peter Carlstromer said, "Due to uncertainty, we are cautious about market developments and believe that the market recovery that has been going on for some time may stall in the future periods." Banks and industrial companies most commonly discuss uncertainty Overall, banks were the most frequent mention of uncertainty in first quarter earnings conference calls as they try to analyze the impact of the trade war on interest rates, loan losses, and deal activity. Next came industrial machinery suppliers, who rely on global supply chains and may be damaged by customers controlling spending in turbulent environments. The broader industrial sector - including shipping companies, engine manufacturers, and truck makers - also faced the negative impact of a weak US dollar. These warnings and concerns have been echoed by investors and policymakers. In the market sell-off in early April, uncertainty regarding US policy surged to the highest level since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. European Central Bank Executive Board member Mario Centeno stated that economic analysis is currently mainly affected by the "uncertainty" caused by US trade policy.