It is world tariff day. Donald Trump is set to announce his latest round of tariffs at 4pm ET (9pm BST), threatening to unleash a global trade war on what he has dubbed “liberation day”.
Asian stocks were little changed after a choppy session, with Japan’s Nikkei ending the day nine points higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped by 0.2% and the South Korean Kospi fell by 0.6%, while the Chinese markets were unchanged.
Earlier on Wall Street, the S&P 500 finished 0.38% higher, while the Nasdaq rose by 0.87% and the Dow slipped slightly.
Gold is trading 0.2% higher at $3,116.2 an ounce, after hitting a new all-time high of $3,148.8 an ounce yesterday, as investors rush into safe assets.
European shares are drifting lower before the US tariff announcement this evening.
In London, the FTSE 100 index has lost 20 points, or 0.2%, to 8,614. Stock markets in Germany, France and Italy have fallen by about 0.5%.
In currency markets, the pound has slipped by 0.1% against the dollar to $1.2903, while the euro is down by a similar amount, at $1.0783. The dollar is up a tad against a basket of major currencies.
Ben Bennett, an Asia-Pacific investment strategist at Legal & General Investment Management, told Reuters: "Nervousness is the dominant sentiment right now.
"Investors are hoping for some clarity … But tariffs are already weighing on business sentiment, and this will probably feed through into lower global economic activity in the coming months."
The US president spent Tuesday “perfecting” the trade plan, according to his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
The plans for further tariffs have rattled investors, company executives and economists, and triggered heated rows with the US’s largest trading partners. Among them, Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, has called the tariffs “unjustified” and pledged to retaliate, and the EU has said it has a “strong plan” to retaliate.
According to the Washington Post, Trump plans to impose 20% tariffs on most goods imported to the US, rather than targeting certain countries or products.
This is clearly not good for economies around the world. A report from Aston Business School has shown that if Trump imposed 25% tariffs, triggering retaliatory action, it could cause a $1.4tn hit to the world economy.
Yesterday, survey data showed US manufacturing contracted in March after growing for two consecutive months, while factory gate inflation jumped to the highest level in almost three years amid mounting anxiety over tariffs on imported goods.
The agenda
• 1.15pm BST: US ADP Employment change for March
• 3pm BST: US Factory orders for February
• 9pm BST: Trump to announce latest US tariffs
We'll be tracking all the main events throughout the day … |
