Stocks, oil prices sink further as Trump stands firm over tariffs

AFP | London

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Stock markets and oil prices collapsed further on a black Monday for markets as US President Donald Trump stood firm over his tariffs despite recession fears.

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 three percent.

Hong Kong collapsed by 13.2% in its worst day in nearly three decades.

Trillions of dollars have been wiped off combined stock market valuations in recent sessions.

Taipei stocks suffered their worst fall on record Monday, tanking 9.7%, while Tokyo closed down by almost eight percent.

Frankfurt fell as much as 10 percent in early trading before paring back losses to trade around 4.6% lower in afternoon deals.

Bitcoin tumbled while the dollar was mixed after sharp losses last week.

“The carnage in global equity markets has continued,” said Thomas Mathews, Asia Pacific head of markets at Capital Economics.

He said Trump could still pare back his tariffs.

“But, if he doesn’t, equities could get a lot sicker yet.”

A 10% “baseline” tariff on imports from around the world took effect Saturday.

A slew of countries will be hit by higher duties from Wednesday, with levies of 34% for Chinese goods and 20% for EU products.

Beijing announced last week its own 34% tariff on US goods, which will come into effect on Thursday.

Canada on Monday launched a WTO complaint against US auto tariffs.

The EU said it had made an offer to the United States for the two sides to have zero tariffs on cars and other industrial goods, while Tokyo agreed to more talks with Washington.