Stock markets down from Australia to Japan and Taiwan as Trump presses ahead with plans to hit China with huge retaliatory tariffs
Today’s tariffs follow Trump’s 10% tariff on all imports from many countries, including Australia, which came into effect at the weekend.
US customs agents began collecting the unilateral tariff at US seaports, airports and customs warehouses on Saturday. Today’s measures are higher levies on goods from 57 larger trading partners.
Continue reading...Ex-Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean says cut of 0.5 points needed because of ‘crazy situation’ in US
The Bank of England should use its meeting next month to cut interest rates by at least half a percentage point to 4% in response to the financial turmoil created by Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, the former deputy governor Charlie Bean has said.
He believes an aggressive strategy is needed to combat the fallout from Trump’s tariff war, which has knocked trillions of pounds off global stock markets, undermining business and consumer confidence.
Continue reading...Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbles nearly 9% on Monday as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 8% and South Korea trading temporarily halted amid Trump tariff concerns
Hong Kong stocks have plummeted more than 9% at open, while Singapore stocks dropped over 7%, according to reports.
Hong Kong and Chinese stocks dived on Monday as markets around the world crumbled in the face of the widening global trade war and fears it will unleash a deep recession, Reuters says.
Continue reading...Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbles nearly 9% on Monday as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 8% and South Korea trading temporarily halted amid Trump tariff concerns
Hong Kong stocks have plummeted more than 9% at open, while Singapore stocks dropped over 7%, according to reports.
Hong Kong and Chinese stocks dived on Monday as markets around the world crumbled in the face of the widening global trade war and fears it will unleash a deep recession, Reuters says.
Continue reading...PM says he will use policy to shelter British businesses following the stock market turmoil prompted by Trump’s announcement
Starmer orders economic reset amid Trump’s tariff mayhem
Welcome back to our live coverage of the economic fallout from Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs last week.
Almost $5tn (£4tn) was wiped off the value of global stock markets after the US president made his shock announcement last Wednesday, which included a 10% base tariff on imports into the US from the UK.
Continue reading...Fund boss Kristalina Georgieva says it is important that US and trading partners avoid escalating trade war
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that Donald Trump’s implementation of swingeing tariffs poses a “significant risk” to the global economy, as stock markets were hit by a punishing worldwide sell-off by investors.
Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the IMF, said it was important that the US and its trading partners avoided further escalating Trump’s trade war, while stock markets plunged on Friday as China retaliated against the tariffs.
Continue reading...President promises he will be ‘very kind’ but critics warn his strategy risks triggering chain reaction and global trade war
As Donald Trump prepared to unveil a swathe of reciprocal tariffs, global markets braced and some Republican senators voiced their opposition to a strategy that critics warn risks a global trade war, provoking retaliation by major trading partners such as China, Canada and the European Union.
The US president said on Monday he would be “very kind” to trading partners when he unveils further tariffs this week, potentially as early as Tuesday night.
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s brinkmanship and stop-start approach to tariffs rattle investors
The risk that the US economy will enter recession this year is rising, according to economists, as Donald Trump’s chaotic approach to tariffs continued to hit markets.
Shares on Wall Street fell sharply on Monday as investors bet the president’s unpredictable tariff trade war and handling of the economy would hit growth, amid a recent plunge in business and consumer confidence.
Continue reading...Berlin’s ‘big bazooka’ proposal sends industrial stocks surging but fiscal sea change also hikes borrowing costs
European financial markets have rallied sharply and German borrowing costs have soared after the country’s prospective leaders announced a historic deal to loosen its “debt brake” rule to boost spending on defence.
The yield – in effect the interest rate – on 30-year German government bonds rose by about 25 basis points to 3.08% in its biggest daily increase since October 1998.
Continue reading...Group may move primary listing to New York or elsewhere – to get ‘optimal valuation’ – in fresh blow to UK market
Glencore is considering moving its primary share listing away from London, in what would be a fresh blow to the UK’s blue-chip stock exchange following a series of departures.
The chief executive of the mining group said it was studying whether a move would boost its shares – with New York top of the list of potential destinations.
Continue reading...Analysts say measures so far have been less than feared but traders still cautious as uncertainty about US policy ‘has basically exploded’
Asian markets were mixed on Tuesday as traders kept a nervous eye on Donald Trump’s next moves after he signed off on 25% tariffs for steel and aluminium imports, having warned of more measures to come.
The president has lived up to his campaign pledges to resume his hardball trade diplomacy to extract concessions on a range of issues, including commerce, immigration and drug trafficking.
Continue reading...European futures also down more than 3% after Trump indicates tariffs will ‘definitely happen’ in EU countries
Asian sharemarkets tumbled in early trade on Monday after the Trump administration’s imposition of tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China sparked fears of an escalating global trade war.
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 4.4% at the open, led by a more than 6% plunge in semiconductor heavyweight TSMC. Japan’s Topix index was down as much as 2.3% and Korea’s Kospi fell as much as 2.4%, led by major exporters with exposure to global markets, including Canada and Mexico such as electronics manufacturers Samsung and LG, and automaker Kia. China’s sharemarkets remain closed for the lunar new year holidays.
Continue reading...Traders even cashed out of gold, a historical safe haven, in push to protect against what could turn into wave of margin calls
The Australian dollar plunged to pandemic-era lows, the ASX fell and crypto prices were smashed as investors scrambled on Monday to prepare for a global trade war sparked by Donald Trump’s new tariff regime.
Traders even cashed out of gold, a historical safe haven, in a push to raise cash reserves to protect against what could turn into a wave of margin calls.
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Continue reading...Tentative rise comes after emergence of cheaper Chinese rival wiped $1tn off the value of leading US tech companies
US tech stocks tentatively recovered on Tuesday after Donald Trump described the launch of a chatbot by China’s DeepSeek as a “wake-up call” for Silicon Valley in the global race to dominate artificial intelligence.
The emergence of DeepSeek, which has built its R1 model chatbot at a fraction of the cost of competitors such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, wiped $1tn (£800bn) in value from the leading US tech index on Monday.
Continue reading...Donald Trump says China’s DeepSeek is a ‘wake-up call’ for American AI firms
Donald Trump has suggested that Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok and that he would like to see a bidding war over the app.
When asked if Microsoft was in talks to buy the app, the US president said “I would say yes”, adding “A lot of interest in TikTok. There’s great interest in TikTok.”
Continue reading...Yuan and Chinese stocks fall despite suggestion of lower tariff than president mentioned during campaign
Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 10% tariff on Chinese-made goods arriving in the US from as early as 1 February, adding that he was also considering levies on imports from the EU.
Ordering an investigation into US-China trade on his second day in office, Trump said any penalties on Chinese goods would be “based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada”.
Continue reading...S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite largely unmoved as it opened for trading for first time after inauguration
Financial markets largely shrugged after Donald Trump outlined plans to impose punitive tariffs on Mexico and Canada as soon as next month while signing scores of executive orders on his first day in office.
The US president told reporters in the White House Oval Office he was thinking about introducing 25% US tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada as soon as 1 February.
Continue reading...Bitcoin rises by 4% past $109,000, reversing earlier losses; Donald Trump meme coin price tanks after wife Melania also launches token
The UK chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will travel to the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos this week in the hope of convincing some of the world’s largest companies to invest, with allies saying she will use spending cuts rather than further tax increases to meet her own fiscal rules.
At the same time, the Treasury is considering a push to cut the benefits bill, in a move that is causing nervousness among Labour MPs.
Continue reading...Nearly every share on index rose after fall in value of pound helped multinationals listed in London
The UK’s blue-chip stock index has hit a record high, as hopes of interest rate cuts this year drove down government borrowing costs.
Almost every share on the FTSE 100 rose on Friday, the fall in the value of the pound bolstering multinationals listed in London and propelling the index above 8,500 points for the first time.
Continue reading...The number of listed companies fleeing can’t be ignored – cutting or abolishing the tax could revive the capital market
Last year was another depressing one for departures from the London stock market. Back in January, it was Flutter heading for the exit. The owner of Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet got itself a secondary listing in the US and said it would quickly convert it into the primary one, which it did in May.
When December arrived, we were still on the same theme. Ashtead Group, the £27bn construction rental company that has been listed in London since 1986, announced plans to shift its primary listing to New York. Other escapers include Just Eat Takeaway, which is off to Amsterdam.
Continue reading...