Trump tariffs hammer global stocks, dollar and oil

On stock markets, Wall Street's tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down more than five percent in midday trading.

"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 labour in factories abroad, fell sharply with Nike sinking more than 11 percent and Gap tanking more than 20 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 shutter a Canadian factory for two weeks 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 around seven percent to under $70 per barrel 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.

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 onslaught, 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.

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 1530 GMT -

New York - Dow: DOWN 3.4 percent at 40,796.96 points

New York - S&P 500: DOWN 4.1 percent at 5,440.33

New York - Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 5.2 percent at 16,679.94

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 $1.1066 from $1.0814 on Wednesday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3127 from $1.2985

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 145.89 yen from 149.39 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 84.30 pence from 83.33 pence

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 7.5 percent at $66.30 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 6.9 percent at $69.79 per barrel

burs-rl/gv