LONDON: Stock markets and oil prices collapsed on a black Monday for world markets, as US President Donald Trump stood firm over his tariffs, despite fears of a global recession.
Trading floors across the globe were overcome by waves of further selling after last week’s sharp losses, with Trump telling Americans to “be strong, courageous, and patient,” minutes before the New York stock market opened to drops of over 3pc.
Wall Street was wracked by volatile trading, bouncing into positive territory on hopes of a 90-day pause in tariffs, only to sink lower when those were dashed by the White House. Trillions of dollars have been wiped off combined stock market valuations in recent sessions.
Hong Kong collapsed by 13.2pc, in its worst day in nearly three decades.
Taipei stocks suffered their worst fall on record Monday, tanking 9.7pc.
Tokyo closed down by almost eight per cent.
Frankfurt fell as much as 10 per cent in early trading before paring back losses to end the day down 4.1 per cent.
Bitcoin also tumbled 5.5pc to hit its lowest in 2025, while the dollar rebounded after sharp losses last week.
Monday’s savage selling was across the board, with no sector spared.
Tech firms, carmakers, banks, casinos and energy firms all felt the pain as investors abandoned riskier assets.
Oil prices also slid 2pc to a nearly four-year low, and after crude prices fell about 11pc last week, Monday’s losses put both benchmarks on track for their lowest closes since mid-April 2021.
“The carnage in global equity markets has continued,” said Thomas Mathews, Asia Pacific head of markets at Capital Economics.
A 10-percent “baseline” tariff on imports from around the world took effect from Saturday.
A slew of countries will be hit by higher duties from Wednesday, with levies of 34pc for Chinese goods and 20pc for EU products.
Beijing last week announced its own 34pc tariff on US goods, which will come into effect this coming Thursday.
Trump on Monday threatened to slap an additional 50-per cent tariff on China if Beijing did not withdraw its retaliation plans — heightening the prospect of another round of tit-for-tat hikes.
Hopes that the US president would rethink his policy in light of the turmoil were dashed on Sunday when he said he would not make a deal with other countries unless trade deficits were solved.
On Monday, Trump told Americans “Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid!… Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!”
“Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” he said of the ructions that have wiped trillions of dollars off company valuations, which impacts the retirement savings of a large number of Americans.
In a letter to shareholders, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned that Trump’s broad tariffs “will likely increase inflation”.
“Whether or not the menu of tariffs causes a recession remains in question, but it will slow down growth,” Dimon said, concluding that “the recent tariffs will likely increase inflation”.
With the start of the first quarter earnings reports, the market is likely to get a flurry of updated outlooks by companies that could further dampen sentiment.
Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2025
