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The German economy shrank by 0.2% in the final quarter of 2024 compared with the previous quarter, the statistics office reported on Tuesday, confirming a preliminary reading. Exports of goods and services were down considerably, falling 2.2% compared with the previous quarter, with a higher decline last recorded in the second quarter of 2020, it said. Increasing competition from abroad, high energy costs, elevated interest rates and uncertain economic prospects have taken their toll on the German economy, which contracted in 2024 for the second year in a row.

(Bloomberg) -- A potential US tariff on oil imports would hand consumers a $22 billion bill as higher costs get passed on, while doing little to stimulate domestic crude production, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.Most Read from BloombergTrump Targets $128 Billion California High-Speed Rail ProjectTrump Asserts Power Over NYC, Proclaims ‘Long Live the King’NYC’s Congestion Pricing Pulls In $48.6 Million in First MonthNYC to Shut Migrant Center in Former Hotel as Crisis EasesAs Visitors Disc

Oil prices fell more than 2% to a two-month low on Tuesday on negative economic news from the U.S. and Germany, driven in part by worries about U.S. President Donald Trump's push for trade tariffs. Brent futures fell $1.61, or 2.25%, to $73.17 a barrel by 10:34 a.m. EST (1534 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $1.60, or 2.3%, to $69.10. Analysts said Trump's trade policies have raised concern at the U.S. Federal Reserve that higher import tariffs could boost inflation.

Taiwan's economy minister said on Tuesday his ministry had not received information about an overseas investment application by Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC, when asked about possible investment in Intel and the United States. U.S. media has reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to companies including Apple and Nvidia, has been in talks to potentially take a stake in Intel.

The dollar retreated on Tuesday, extending declines after a soft reading on U.S. consumer confidence and a drop in U.S. yields weighed, while optimism for more spending in Germany helped lift the euro. The greenback extended declines after the Conference Board said its consumer confidence index dropped 7 points, its largest fall since August 2021, to 98.3, well short of the 102.5 estimate of economists polled by Reuters. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.39% to 106.33, just off the two-month low of 106.12 hit on Monday, with the euro up 0.37% at $1.0505.

"There's a lot of uncertainty, a lot of kind of dust in the air, and before the Fed can go back to cutting the rates, I feel and have expressed that we got to get a little dust out of the air," Goolsbee said in an interview on Chicago public TV station WTTW.

President Donald Trump added a new wrinkle to ongoing talks that he says may help end the war in Ukraine: new "economic development" with Russia.