 "Trump-China trade war on but Asian markets rebound, open higher after Black Monday losses")
Asian markets began higher on Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index rising 5.5% after falling over 8% the day before.
The rally came after a chaotic day on Wall Street, when US equities plummeted as President Donald Trump vowed to raise his double-digit tariffs further.
A half-hour after the Tokyo market started, the Nikkei 225 soared to 32,819.08.
South Korea’s Kospi increased by 2%, and markets in New Zealand and Australia also rose.
Asian markets tumbled on Monday, with Hong Kong equities falling 13.2%, their worst day since 1997, during the Asian financial crisis.
The S&P 500 ended down 0.2% on Monday as battered financial markets watched to see what Trump will do next in his trade war. If other countries agree to trade deals, he could lower his tariffs and avoid a possible recession. But if he sticks with tariffs for the long haul, stock prices may fall further.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 349 points, or 0.9%, and the Nasdaq composite edged up by 0.1%.
All three indexes started the day sharply lower, and the Dow plunged as many as 1,700 points following even worse losses elsewhere in the world. But it suddenly surged to a gain of nearly 900 points in the late morning. The S&P 500, meanwhile, went from a loss of 4.7% to a leap of 3.4%, which would have been its biggest jump in years.
The sudden rise followed a false rumor that Trump was considering a 90-day pause on his tariffs, one that a White House account on X quickly labeled as “fake news.” That a rumor could move trillions of dollars’ worth of investments shows how much investors are hoping to see signs that Trump may let up on tariffs.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsStocks quickly turned back down, and shortly afterward, Trump dug in further and said he may raise tariffs more against China after the world’s second-largest economy retaliated last week with its own set of tariffs on U.S. products.
Trump’s tariffs are an attack on the globalization that’s remade the world’s economy, which helped bring down prices for products on the shelves of U.S. stores but also caused production jobs to leave for other countries.
He has given several reasons for his stiff tariffs, including to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, which is a process that could take years. Trump on Sunday said he wanted to bring down the numbers for how much more the United States imports from other countries versus how much it sends to them.
Indexes nevertheless did keep swinging between losses and gains Monday after Trump’s latest tariff threat, in part because investors are still hoping negotiations may forestall actual implementation of the stiff duties on all imports.
All that seemed certain Monday was the financial pain hammering investments around the world for a third day after Trump announced tariffs in his “Liberation Day.”
A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil dipped below $60 during the morning for the first time since 2021, hurt by worries that a global economy weakened by trade barriers will burn less fuel. Bitcoin sank below $79,000, down from its record above $100,000 set in January, after holding steadier than other markets last week.
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