LONDON: Stock markets and the dollar tumbled Thursday after President Donald Trump’s latest worldwide tariff salvo fanned a trade war that many fear will spark recession and ramp up inflation.
The dollar slumped by as much as 2.6 percent versus the euro, its biggest intraday plunge in a decade, and suffered sharp losses also against the yen and British pound.
On stock markets, Wall Street’s tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down more than five percent in midday trading.
“The simultaneous decline in both stocks and the US dollar speaks volumes about investor confidence in Trump’s trade policy,” said City Index and FOREX.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada.
Shares in apparel companies, which rely on cheap labour in factories abroad, fell sharply with Nike sinking more than 11 percent and Gap tanking more than 20 percent. Across the globe shares in major sectors including auto, luxury and banking, also took big hits. Shares in Jeep-maker Stellantis fell 7.5 percent after it said it would shutter a Canadian factory for two weeks as 25 percent car tariffs came into force.
Tokyo’s Nikkei briefly collapsed more than four percent. In Europe, both the Paris and Frankfurt stock exchanges finished the day with losses of more than three percent.
Oil prices plummeted around seven percent to under $70 per barrel on concerns an economic downturn would hit demand.
Gold, a safe haven asset in times of uncertainty, hit a new peak of $3,167.84 an ounce. Yields on government bonds fell as investors fled risky assets and piled into safe-haven treasuries.
New York - Dow: DOWN 3.4 percent at 40,796.96 points
New York - S&P 500: DOWN 4.1 percent at 5,440.33
New York - Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 5.2 percent at 16,679.94
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 3.3 percent at 7,598.98 (close)
Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 3.0 percent at 21,717.39 (close)
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 1.6 percent at 8,474.74 (close)
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 2.8 percent at 34,735.93 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.5 percent at 22,849.81 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.2 percent at 3,342.01 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1066 from $1.0814 on Wednesday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3127 from $1.2985
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 145.89 yen from 149.39 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 84.30 pence from 83.33 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 7.5 percent at $66.30 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 6.9 percent at $69.79 per barrel.
