Crime Today News
File picture: Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City on Thursday.
| Photo Credit:
Brendan McDermid
The US markets opened with deep fissures on Friday, as the tremors set off by sweeping import tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, was exacerbated by China retaliating with 34 per cent additional tariffs on US goods entering the country.
Wall Street was firmly in the grip of bears as the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq opened 2.5-3 per cent down and looked set for their worst 2-day fall since March 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial opened 2.2 per cent lower.
The US has imposed a stiff 54 per cent tariff on China and iPhone maker Apple Inc, which has a big manufacturing base there, saw its shares fall over 4 per cent. Other stocks that tumbled in opening trades were Nvidia, Amazon Inc, and Samsung Electronics, extending their losses from the day before.
On Wednesday Trump signed off on an order announcing a 10 per cent baseline tariff on all imports, and higher reciprocal tariffs on several countries including 46 per cent on Vietnam, 36 per cent on Thailand, 37 per cent on Bangladesh and 27 per cent on India.
The prompt retaliatory action by China has sparked off fears of a full-blown trade war across the world, disrupting supply chains, pushing up inflation and dragging the global economy into a recession.
Indian equities, which did not show much of an impact on Thursday to the Trump tariffs on expectations that the country was less affected than others, fell more on Friday, with the benchmark indices ending 1-2-1.5 per cent each.
However, it was the broader market that took the brunt of the selling on tariff war concerns. The Nifty IT Index fell 3.6 per cent on apprehensions that a slowdown in the US, the key market for India’s software exports, could hit discretionary spends by corporations.
Metal stocks Tata Steel and Hindalco Industries fell over 8 per cent each due to the impact of higher duties on steel and aluminium.
“India is looking for a deal with the US, but until that happens, and the deal gets finalised, we are exposed to the prospect of dumping,” said Mahendra Patil, Founder and Managing Partner, MP Financial Advisory Services LLP. He pointed out that Taiwan and China had been slapped with higher tariffs than India.
Earlier in the day, Asian markets closed with losses ranging from 0.24 to 2.8 per cent. The worst affected was the Japan’s Nikkei 225, which lost over 955 points during the day. The US, which has slapped 24 per cent tariff on Japanese imports, is one of its biggest trading partners and the higher duties are a big blow for the export-oriented economy.
European markets continued to be walloped, with key indices falling in the range 3.9-7.5 per cent. The FTSE, DAX, CAC and STOXX600 were down 4.8-5.5 per cent.
Published on April 4, 2025
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