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Equities and oil prices extended a global rout for markets Friday after China hit back over President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz with its own mammoth levy on US goods, inflaming global trade war fears.The dollar was steadier against main rivals having fallen sharply Thursday on fears of a recession in the United States.”Sentiment is so fragile right now,” Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG, told AFP.”Investors are firmly in the ‘get me to cash now’ phase, on fears that other nations will follow China’s lead, and of course that the US president will respond to China’s tariffs with even more charges. “This trade war is like nothing we’ve seen for years, perhaps decades,” Beauchamp added.Frankfurt’s main DAX index of German blue-chip companies plunged more than five percent moments after the Chinese government said it would slap 34 percent tariffs on all imports of US goods from April 10.Paris tumbled 4.2 percent and London gave up 3.9 percent in early afternoon deals.Oil futures plummeted around seven percent, having already plunged some 6.5 percent Thursday on the prospect of weaker demand.News that OPEC+ had unexpectedly hiked crude supply more than planned added to the steep selling.The price of traded copper — a vital component for energy storage, electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines — tumbled more than five percent.Beijing on Friday also imposed exports controls on seven rare earth elements, its commerce ministry said, including gadolinium — commonly used in MRIs — and yttrium, utilised in consumer electronics.”Another jolt of fear has shot through markets as China’s threat of retaliation has materialised,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown. “The big concern is that this is a sign of a sharp escalation of the tariff war which will have major implications for the global economy.”China’s response came after Trump’s harsher-than-expected “Liberation Day” levies sent shockwaves through markets Thursday, with Wall Street suffering its worst day since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.French President Emmanuel Macron has called for suspending investment in the United States until what he called the “brutal” new tariffs had been “clarified”.Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said the 24 percent levies his country faced were a “national crisis”.The Tokyo stock market closed with a loss of 2.8 percent, as car giants took the heat once more. Toyota slid more than four percent while Nissan and Honda each sank more than five percent. Hanoi’s index, which plunged more than seven percent Thursday owing to the near 50 percent US tariff imposed on Vietnam, fell another 4.6 percent.The selling came after Wall Street’s tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged six percent Thursday, the S&P 500 shed 4.8 percent — its biggest dip in a day since 2020 — and the Dow retreated four percent.Investors will be keeping a close eye on US jobs data due Friday for a fresh insight into the state of the world’s top economy, while Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell is also lined up to give a speech.- Key figures around 1200 GMT -West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 7.2 percent at $62.10 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 6.8 percent at $65.38 per barrelFrankfurt – DAX: DOWN 5.1 percent at 20,619.18 points Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 4.2 percent at 7,284.75London – FTSE 100: DOWN 3.9 percent at 8,142.42 Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 2.8 percent at 33,780.58 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holidayShanghai – Composite: Closed for a holidayNew York – Dow: DOWN 4.0 percent at 40,545.93 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1050 from $1.1052 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3017 from $1.2968Dollar/yen: DOWN at 145.22 yen from 145.99 yenEuro/pound: UP at 84.82 pence from 84.34 penceburs-bcp/ajb/lth

Markets extended a global selloff Friday as countries around the world reeled from US President Donald Trump’s trade war, but the White House insisted the American economy will emerge victorious.Shock waves tore through markets in the United States, Europe and Asia after Trump’s tariff bombshell, as foreign leaders signaled readiness to negotiate but also threatened counter-tariffs.The S&P 500 dropped 4.8 percent in its biggest loss since 2020 on Thursday. The tech-rich Nasdaq plummeted 6.0 percent and the Dow Jones 4.0 percent.Japan’s key Nikkei 225 index was down more than three percent in afternoon trade Friday, with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba describing Trump’s tariffs as a “national crisis”.Trump slapped 10 percent import duties on all nations and far higher levies on imports from dozens of specific countries — including top trade partners China and the European Union.Separate tariffs of 25 percent on all foreign-made cars also went into effect, and Canada swiftly responded with a similar levy on US imports.Stellantis — the owner of Jeep, Chrysler and Fiat — paused production at some Canadian and Mexican assembly plants.Trump dismissed the turmoil, insisting to reporters as he left for a weekend at his Florida golf resort that stocks will “boom.”Vice President JD Vance, in an interview with Newsmax, also played down the market turbulence.”I frankly thought in some ways it could be worse in the markets, because this is a big transition,” Vance said.- ‘Trust Donald Trump’ -Trump says he wants to make the United States free from reliance on foreign manufacturers, in a massive economic reshaping that he likened to a medical procedure.”It’s what is expected,” the 78-year-old president said of the market reaction. “The patient was very sick. The economy had a lot of problems.””It went through an operation. It’s going to be a booming economy. It’s going to be amazing.”Amid howls of protest abroad and from even some of Trump’s Republicans, who fear price rises at home, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick urged patience.”Let Donald Trump run the global economy. He knows what he’s doing,” Lutnick said on CNNTrump reserved some of the heaviest blows for what he called “nations that treat us badly.” That included an additional 34 percent on goods from China — bringing the new added tariff rate there to 54 percent.The figure for the European Union was 20 percent, and 24 percent on Japan.China demanded the tariffs be immediately canceled and vowed countermeasures, while France and Germany warned that the EU could hit back at US tech firms.French President Emmanuel Macron called for suspending investment in the United States until what he called the “brutal” new tariffs had been “clarified.”IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said the tariffs “clearly represent a significant risk to the global outlook.”She appealed to Washington and its trade partners to work “constructively” to resolve tensions and reduce uncertainty.Gold — a safe-haven investment — hit a new record price, oil fell and the dollar slumped against other major currencies.- Global economic ‘sumo wrestler’ -Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, head of the World Trade Organization, which helps manage global trading, warned the upheaval may lead to contraction of “one percent in global merchandise trade volumes this year.”Republican Senator Mitch McConnell broke ranks with Trump, slamming tariffs as “bad policy.”Preserving long-term prosperity “requires working with our allies, not against them,” McConnell said.Trump has said he would negotiate “as long as they are giving something that is good.”The 27-nation EU and other countries have sought to negotiate as they refrained from immediate retaliation.Beijing said it was “maintaining communication” with Washington over trade issues, and EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic planned to speak with US counterparts on Friday.But White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told CNN earlier that the president made it clear “this is not a negotiation.”And Lutnick also struck a hard line, saying, “You can’t really fight with the United States.””You’re going to lose. We are the sumo wrestler of this world.”burs-cl/st/cms/dhc/lth

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Japanese goods are a “national crisis”, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Friday ahead of cross-party talks on mitigating the impact on the heavily export-dependent economy.Japanese firms are the biggest investors into the United States but Trump on Thursday announced a hefty 24 percent levy on imports from the close US ally as part of global “reciprocal” levies.The measures “can be called a national crisis and the government is doing its best with all parties” to lessen the impact, Ishiba said in parliament.He called however for a “calm-headed” approach to negotiations with Trump, who has also imposed 25 percent tariffs on auto imports which came into force this week.Local media reported Friday that Japanese officials were attempting to organise a call between Ishiba and Trump, who held apparently friendly talks at the White House in February.Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya “strongly demanded” to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in talks in Brussels on Thursday that the “extremely regrettable” measures be reviewed, Tokyo said.Japan’s main Nikkei 225 index fell 2.75 percent on Friday, adding to a 2.7 percent drop on Thursday after the S&P 500 on Wall Street dropped by the most in a day since 2020.Ishiba told ministers “to take all measures necessary including financing support” for domestic industries and protecting jobs, government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.Ishiba’s meetings with party leaders later Friday were aimed at laying the groundwork for the supplementary budget, the Asahi Shimbun daily reported.- ‘Extremely grave’ -The Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) said Trump’s tariffs “would have an extremely grave impact on the Japanese economy”.”We strongly urge the government to continue its persistent negotiations for the exemption from tariff measures and to take all possible measures to minimise the impact on small and medium-sized enterprises and small businesses… by developing a detailed consultation system and strengthening cash management support,” the JCCI said Thursday.The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) also called for “comprehensive support measures to ensure that Japan’s automotive industry can maintain its foundation as a manufacturing base”.JAMA said its members have invested a cumulative total of more than $66 billion in US manufacturing as of 2024, generating over 110,000 direct US jobs and supporting more than 2.2 million others.Japanese carmakers ship about 1.45 million cars to the United States from Canada and Mexico, where they operate factories, Bloomberg News reported.By comparison, Japan exports 1.49 million cars directly to the United States, while Japanese automakers make 3.3 million cars in America.- ‘Incomprehensible’ -The US deficit with Japan was almost $70 billion last year. Japan mostly exports to the United States vehicles, auto parts, machinery, and electrical and electronic equipment.US imports the other way are mostly chemicals, plastics, rubber, and leather goods, as well as agriculture products and oil and cement.The White House has said that Japan has a 700 percent tariff on US rice imports, a claim Japan’s farm minister called “incomprehensible”, local media reported.In Japan, the auto sector employs about 5.6 million people directly or indirectly.Vehicles accounted for around 28 percent of Japan’s 21.3 trillion yen ($142 billion) of US-bound exports last year.BMI (Fitch Solutions) estimated that in a worst-case scenario, there could be a hit of 0.7 percentage points to Japan’s economy this year.Capital Economics was less pessimistic, predicting a “quite small” impact of perhaps just 0.2 percent, saying that “Japan isn’t all that dependent on US demand”.

South Korea’s Constitutional Court unanimously ruled on Friday to remove impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol from office over his disastrous martial law declaration, triggering fresh elections after months of political turmoil.Yoon, 64, was suspended by lawmakers over his December 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament. He was also arrested on insurrection charges as part of a separate criminal case.Millions of Koreans watched the Constitutional Court hand down its verdict live on television, with the country’s main messaging app KakaoTalk telling AFP that some users were experiencing delays due to a sudden surge in traffic.”Given the serious negative impact and far-reaching consequences of the respondent’s constitutional violations… (We) dismiss respondent President Yoon Suk Yeol,” acting court President Moon Hyung-bae said while delivering the ruling.Yoon’s removal, which is effective immediately, triggers fresh presidential elections, which must be held within 60 days. Authorities will announce a date in the coming days.Outside the court, AFP reporters heard Yoon supporters shouting threats that they wanted to kill the judges, who decided unanimously to uphold Yoon’s impeachment, and have been given additional security protection by police.Yoon’s actions “violate the core principles of the rule of law and democratic governance”, the judges said in their ruling.Yoon sending armed soldiers to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers from voting down his decree “violated the political neutrality of the armed forces”.He deployed troops for “political purposes”, the judges added.”In the end, the respondent’s unconstitutional and illegal acts are a betrayal of the people’s trust and constitute a serious violation of the law that cannot be tolerated,” they ruled.Opposition party lawmakers clapped their hands as the verdict was announced, calling it “historic”, while lawmakers from Yoon’s party filed out of the courtroom.Yoon apologised for failing to meet the people’s “expections” in a brief statement released after the verdict.The dismissed president “will likely be remembered as a leader who was fundamentally unprepared — and perhaps unqualified — for the presidency,” Ji Yeon Hong, a political science professor at University of Michigan, told AFP.”He failed to grasp the magnitude of the power entrusted to him and showed a deeply biased understanding of democracy and political leadership.”- Impeached -Yoon is the second South Korean leader to be impeached by the court after Park Geun-hye in 2017.After weeks of tense hearings, judges spent more than a month deliberating the case, while public unrest swelled.Police raised the security alert to the highest possible level on Friday. Officers encircled the courthouse with a ring of vehicles and stationed special operations teams in the vicinity.Anti-Yoon protesters gathered outdoors to watch a live broadcast of the verdict, cheering and holding hands. When Yoon’s removal was announced, they erupted into wild cheers, with some bursting into tears.”When the dismissal was finally declared, the cheers were so loud it felt like the rally was being swept away,” Kim Min-ji, a 25-year-old anti-Yoon protester, told AFP. “We cried tears and shouted that we, the citizens, had won!”Yoon, who defended his attempt to subvert civilian rule as necessary to root out “anti-state forces”, still commands the backing of extreme supporters.Outside his residence, his supporters shouted and swore, with some bursting into tears as the verdict was announced. This year, at least two staunch Yoon supporters have died after self-immolating in protest of the leader’s impeachment.The decision shows “first and foremost the resilience of South Korean democracy”, Byunghwan Son, professor at George Mason University, told AFP.”The very fact that the system did not collapse suggests that the Korean democracy can survive even the worst challenge against it — a coup attempt.”Portraits of Yoon will be taken down from military offices on Friday, Yonhap news agency reported. According to defence ministry regulations, a photo of the country’s commander-in-chief must be displayed at their offices.- Trade winds -The Korean won jumped sharply against the US dollar immediately after the court announced Yoon’s dismissal, with Seoul’s benchmark KOSPI up 8.62 points, or 0.35 percent.South Korea has spent the four months since the martial law declaration without an effective head of state, as the opposition impeached Yoon’s stand-in, acting president Han Duck-soo — only for him to be later reinstated by a court ruling.The leadership vacuum came during a series of crises and headwinds, including an aviation disaster and the deadliest wildfires in the country’s history.This week, South Korea was slammed with 25 percent tariffs on exports to key ally the United States after President Donald Trump unveiled global, so-called reciprocal levies. After the court decision on Friday, National Assembly speaker Woo Won-shik said “we have reaffirmed that no one in the Republic of Korea can be above the law”.”We have made clear the principle that any power that commits unconstitutional or illegal acts must be held accountable,” Woo said.Yoon also faces a separate criminal trial on charges of insurrection over the martial law bid.Han will remain as acting president until the new elections are held. 

Equities widened losses in Asia and Europe on Friday, extending a global rout inflicted by Donald Trump’s tariff blitz that has inflamed a trade war and ramped up recession and inflation fears.The US president’s harsher-than-expected “Liberation Day” levies sent shockwaves through markets on Thursday, with Wall Street suffering its worst day since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic and the dollar tanking against major peers.As stocks were falling off a cliff on Thursday, the 78-year-old Republican insisted they will “boom” as the economy recalibrates. Trump says he wants to make the United States free from reliance on foreign manufacturers, in a massive economic reshaping that he likened to a medical procedure.”It’s what is expected,” he said. “The patient was very sick. The economy had a lot of problems. It went through an operation. It’s going to be a booming economy. It’s going to be amazing.”And White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned on CNN: “The president made it clear yesterday this is not a negotiation.”Trump later said he would negotiate “as long as they are giving something that is good”.- One in two chance -But fears are growing that governments will retaliate in kind, further harming global trade and battering the world economy.Some have already warned they will act, while others have said they will take time to take stock of the impact of the measures.China demanded the tariffs be immediately cancelled and vowed countermeasures, while France and Germany warned that the European Union could target US tech firms.French President Emmanuel Macron called for suspending investment in the United States until what he called the “brutal” new tariffs had been “clarified”.Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Friday the 24 percent levies his country faced were a “national crisis”.Jim Zelter, president of Apollo Global Management, warned that the chances of a US recession had risen to at least one in two. He added that the levies could put the Federal Reserve in a bind as it had to weigh hiking interest rates to fight a possible inflation spike or cut them to support the economy.Investors will be keeping a close eye on US jobs data due later Friday for a fresh insight into the state of the world’s top economy, while Fed boss Jerome Powell is also lined up to give a speech.”If I was here six months ago, I would have said a recession in 2025 or 2026 was one-in-five and now that’s certainly one-in-two if not higher,” Zelter told Bloomberg Television.Traders are now eyeing a 50 percent chance the Fed will cut rates four times this year.Asian investors continued to offload shares amid concerns about the possibility of more market-negative headlines over the weekend.Tokyo shed 2.8 percent with car giants taking the heat once more. Toyota lost more than four percent while Nissan and Honda each sank more than five percent. Tech titan Sony and tech investor SoftBank were also sharply lower again.Sydney tumbled more than two percent along with Singapore and Bangkok, while Seoul, Wellington, Mumbai and Manila were deep in the red as well. Hanoi, which plunged more than seven percent Thursday owing to the near 50 percent tariff imposed on Vietnam, fell another 4.6 percent.London, Paris and Frankfurt started on the back foot.Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei and Jakarta were closed for holidays.The selling came after Wall Street’s tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged six percent, the S&P 500 shed 4.8 percent — its biggest dip in a day since 2020 — and the Dow fell four percent.The dollar remained under pressure across the board and was sitting at a six-month low against the yen, euro and sterling.Oil also extended losses, having tanked more than six percent the day before on fears about the impact of a possible recession on demand.News that OPEC+ had unexpectedly hiked supply three times more than planned added to selling pressure on the commodity.The “historic selling pressure in stock markets is not an overreaction, considering that recessions have generated significant drawdowns in equities in the past”, said Jose Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers.”An economic downturn is now an even chance, with odds rising the longer these trade measures are maintained.”- Key figures around 0715 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 2.8 percent at 33,780.58 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holidayShanghai – Composite: Closed for a holidayLondon – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.6 percent at 8,421.23 Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1067 from $1.1050 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3066 from $1.3099Dollar/yen: DOWN at 145.96 yen from 145.99 yenEuro/pound: UP at 84.70 pence from 84.34 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.2 percent at $66.16 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.1 percent at $69.37 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 4.0 percent at 40,545.93 (close)

South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Friday upheld President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment over his disastrous martial law declaration, voting unanimously to strip him of office for violating the constitution.Yoon, 64, was suspended by lawmakers over his December 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament. He was also arrested on insurrection charges as part of a separate criminal case.His removal triggers fresh presidential elections, which must be held within 60 days. “Given the serious negative impact and far-reaching consequences of the respondent’s constitutional violations… (We) dismiss respondent President Yoon Suk Yeol,” said acting court President Moon Hyung-bae.The decision was unanimous by all eight of the court’s judges, who have been given additional security protection by police with tensions high and pro-Yoon supporters rallying in the streets.Yoon’s actions “violate the core principles of the rule of law and democratic governance, thereby undermining the constitutional order itself and posing a grave threat to the stability of the democratic republic,” the judges said in their ruling.Yoon’s decision to send armed soldiers to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers from voting down his decree “violated the political neutrality of the armed forces and the duty of supreme command.”He deployed troops for “political purposes”, the judges said, which “caused soldiers who had served the country with the mission of ensuring national security and defending the country to confront ordinary citizens.””In the end, the respondent’s unconstitutional and illegal acts are a betrayal of the people’s trust and constitute a serious violation of the law that cannot be tolerated from the perspective of protecting the Constitution,” the judges ruled.- Impeached -Yoon is the second South Korean leader to be impeached by the court after Park Geun-hye in 2017.After weeks of tense hearings, judges spent more than a month deliberating the case, all while public unrest swelled.Police raised the alert to the highest possible level Friday, enabling the deployment of their entire force. Officers encircled the courthouse with a ring of vehicles and stationed special operations teams in the vicinity.Anti-Yoon protesters cried, cheered and screamed as the verdict was announced. Some jumped and shook each other’s hands in joy, while others hugged people and cried.  Outside Yoon’s residence, his supporters shouted and swore, with some bursting into tears as the verdict was announced. Yoon, who defended his attempt to subvert civilian rule as necessary to root out “anti-state forces”, still commands the backing of extreme supporters.At least two staunch Yoon supporters — one in his 70s and the other in his 50s — have died after self-immolating in protest of the controversial leader’s impeachment.Embassies — including the American, French, Russian and Chinese — have warned citizens to avoid mass gatherings in connection with Friday’s verdict.The decision shows “first and foremost the resilience of South Korean democracy,” Byunghwan Son, professor at George Mason University, told AFP.”The very fact that the system did not collapse suggests that the Korean democracy can survive even the worst challenge against it — a coup attempt.”- ‘Highly unlikely’ to reinstate -South Korea has spent the four months since Yoon declared martial law without an effective head of state, as the opposition impeached Yoon’s stand-in — only for him to be later reinstated by a court ruling.The leadership vacuum came during a series of crises and headwinds, including an aviation disaster and the deadliest wildfires in the country’s history.This week, South Korea was slammed with 25 percent tariffs on exports to key ally the United States after President Donald Trump unveiled global, so-called reciprocal levies. Since December, South Korea has been “partially paralysed — it has been without a legitimate president and has been challenged by natural disasters and the political disaster called Trump,” Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, told AFP.Yoon also faces a separate criminal trial on charges of insurrection over the martial law bid.

Equities extended losses in Asia on Friday, extending a global rout inflicted by Donald Trump’s tariff blitz that has inflamed a trade war and ramped up recession and inflation fears.The US president’s harsher-than-expected “Liberation Day” levies sent shockwaves through markets on Thursday, with Wall Street suffering its worst day since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic and the dollar tanking against major peers.As stocks were falling off a cliff on Thursday, the 78-year-old Republican insisted they will “boom” as the economy recalibrates. Trump says he wants to make the United States free from reliance on foreign manufacturers, in a massive economic reshaping that he likened to a medical procedure.”It’s what is expected,” he said. “The patient was very sick. The economy had a lot of problems. It went through an operation. It’s going to be a booming economy. It’s going to be amazing.”And White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned on CNN: “The president made it clear yesterday this is not a negotiation.”Trump later said he would negotiate “as long as they are giving something that is good”.But there is a growing concern that governments will retaliate in kind, further harming global trade and battering the world economy.Some have already warned they will act, while others have said they will take time to take stock of the impact of the measures.China demanded the tariffs be immediately cancelled and vowed countermeasures, while France and Germany warned that the European Union could target US tech firms.French President Emmanuel Macron called for suspending investment in the United States until what he called the “brutal” new tariffs had been “clarified”.Jim Zelter, president of Apollo Global Management, warned that the chances of a US recession had risen to at least one in two. He added that the levies could put the Federal Reserve in a bind as it had to weigh hiking interest rates to fight a possible inflation spike or cut them to support the economy.”If I was here six months ago, I would have said a recession in 2025 or 2026 was one-in-five and now that’s certainly one-in-two if not higher,” he told Bloomberg Television.Traders are now eyeing a 50 percent chance the Fed will cut rates four times this year.Asian investors continued Thursday’s retrenchment.Tokyo shed more than two percent for the second day running, with car giants taking the heat once more. Toyota, Nissan and Honda lost between 4.2 and 5.2 percent. Tech titan Sony and tech investor SoftBank were also sharply lower again.Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, Wellington and Manila were also in the red. Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei and Jakarta were closed for holidays.The selling came after Wall Street’s tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged six percent, the S&P 500 shed 4.8 percent — its biggest dip in a day since 2020 — and the Dow fell four percent.The dollar remained under pressure, sitting at a six-month low against the yen, euro and sterling.Oil also extended losses, having tanked more than six percent the day before on fears about the impact of a possible recession on demand.News that OPEC+ had unexpectedly hiked supply three times more than planned added to selling pressure on the commodity.The “historic selling pressure in stock markets is not an overreaction, considering that recessions have generated significant drawdowns in equities in the past”, said Jose Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers.”An economic downturn is now an even chance, with odds rising the longer these trade measures are maintained.”- Key figures around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 2.6 percent at 33,818.18 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holidayShanghai – Composite: Closed for a holidayEuro/dollar: UP at $1.1067 from $1.1050 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3105 from $1.3099Dollar/yen: UP at 146.24 yen from 145.99 yenEuro/pound: UP at 84.45 pence from 84.34 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.6 percent at $66.53 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.6 percent at $69.72 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 4.0 percent at 40,545.93 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 1.6 percent at 8,474.74 (close)

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 dove around six percent, while the retreat in the S&P 500 was its biggest in a day since 2020.”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 labor in factories abroad, fell sharply with Nike sinking more than 11 percent and Gap tanking more than 20 percent.Apple, whose iPhones are largely manufactured in China, fell over nine 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 pause production at some plants in Canada and Mexico 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 more than six percent 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 before retreating somewhat.Yields on government bonds fell as investors fled risky assets and piled into safe-haven treasuries.- Renewed rate cuts? -The panic came after the US president unveiled a blitz of harsher-than-expected levies aimed at countries he said had been “ripping off” the United States for years.The measures included a 34 percent tariff on world number two economy China, 20 percent on the European Union and 24 percent on Japan.A number of others will face specifically tailored tariff levels, and for the rest, Trump said he would impose a “baseline” tariff of 10 percent, including on Britain.”Markets, unsurprisingly have reacted badly,” noted Richard Carter, head of fixed interest research at wealth manager Quilter. “(US) Treasury yields have fallen sharply, as investors take flight and look for safe haven assets. “This would suggest the Federal Reserve will need to put additional rate cuts on the table to look to prevent recession being triggered, but should it face inflation rising too, it is in somewhat of a bind,” Carter added.As world markets tumbled, Trump acknowledged the shock brought by his tariffs, likening it to a medical “operation,” but said the US economy would emerge “far stronger.”White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared to rule out the possibility of Trump pulling back any of the tariffs before they are implemented over the coming weekend.”The president made it clear yesterday this is not a negotiation,” she said on CNN.However, Trump later said he would negotiate “as long as they are giving something that is good.”Investors are bracing for retaliatory measures, but governments also left the door open for talks.China vowed “countermeasures” and urged Washington to cancel the tariffs, while calling for dialogue. European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc was “preparing for further countermeasures” but she emphasised it was “not too late to address concerns through negotiations”.- Key figures around 2200 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 4.0 percent at 40,545.93 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 4.8 percent at 5,396.52 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 6.0 percent at 16,550.61 (close)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 $1.1050 from $1.0853 on WednesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3099 from $1.3007Dollar/yen: DOWN at 145.99 yen from 149.28 yenEuro/pound: UP at 84.34 pence from 83.44 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 6.6 percent at $66.95 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 6.4 percent at $70.14 per barrelburs-jmb/des

The fate of South Korea’s presidency hangs on the Constitutional Court Friday as it decides whether to uphold Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment over a disastrous martial law declaration or to return him to power.Yoon, 64, was suspended by lawmakers over his December 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament. He was also arrested over a separate criminal trial on insurrection charges.At least six of the Constitutional Court’s eight justices must vote to remove Yoon. Otherwise, he will be reinstated.If removed, he would become the second South Korean leader to be impeached by the court after Park Geun-hye in 2017.After weeks of tense hearings, judges spent more than a month deliberating the case, all while public unrest has swelled.Yoon, who defended his December 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule as necessary to root out “anti-state forces”, still commands the backing of extreme supporters, who have staged protests for weeks in the run-up to the verdict.The wait for his ruling had led to worsening political divisions in the country and the emergence of unverified conspiracy theories, some suggesting that the justices were locked in intense disagreements.At least two staunch Yoon supporters — one in his 70s and the other in his 50s — have died after self-immolating in protest of the controversial leader’s impeachment.Opposition MP Back Hye-ryun last month was hit in the face with an egg outside the court, as she was urging justices to uphold Yoon’s impeachment.Police have been increasing security, and plan to deploy maximum capacity Friday to head off unrest. Embassies — including the American, French, Russian and Chinese — have warned citizens to avoid mass gatherings in connection with Friday’s verdict.- ‘Highly unlikely’ to reinstate -South Korea has spent the four months since Yoon declared martial law without an effective head of state, as the opposition impeached Yoon’s stand-in — only for him to be reinstated by a court ruling.The leadership vacuum comes during a series of crises and headwinds, including an aviation disaster and the deadliest wildfires in the country’s history.This week, South Korea was slammed with 25 percent tariffs on exports to key ally the United States after President Donald Trump unveiled global, so-called reciprocal levies.  Since December, South Korea has been “partially paralysed — it has been without a legitimate president and has been challenged by natural disasters and the political disaster called Trump,” Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, told AFP.Yoon also faces a separate criminal trial on charges of insurrection over the martial law bid, making him the first sitting South Korean president to stand trial in a criminal case.Many law and constitution experts say expect that the court will uphold Yoon’s impeachment.”Given the patently unconstitutional and illegal nature of attempting to seize the National Assembly through the deployment of martial law forces, it seems highly unlikely that a dismissal of the impeachment is a viable outcome,” Lee Jong-soo, a professor at Yonsei University Law School, told AFP.”Based solely on legal principles, I would expect an 8-0 unanimous ruling in favour of upholding the impeachment.”But another expert, Professor Lee In-ho at Chung-Ang University’s school of law, predicts the court could end in a deadlock. Lee told AFP he thinks the impeachment will likely be dismissed with “the constitutional interpretation concerning the president’s justification for declaring martial law (to) remain unresolved.”