Financial markets were gripped by recession fears as stocks extended a punishing global selloff on Friday in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, helping drive a rally in U.S. Treasuries and supporting gold near a record peak.
Investors struggled to catch their breath as sharp asset price moves in the past 24 hours pummelled Wall Street stocks in their worst performance since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The frenetic activity in markets came after Trump on Wednesday announced Washington’s steepest trade barriers in more than 100 years, sparking a scramble among investors for safe havens like government bonds, the yen and gold.
As the week draws to a close, there were few signs of easing investor nerves.
U.S. stock futures pointed to further weakness, with Nasdaq futures falling 0.7% while S&P 500 futures lost 0.66%.
That came after S&P 500 companies lost a combined $2.4 trillion in stock market value overnight, their biggest one-day loss since the coronavirus pandemic hit global markets on March 16, 2020, while other Wall Street indexes similarly suffered sharp falls. [.N]
EUROSTOXX 50 futures also declined 0.53%, while FTSE futures were down 0.32% and DAX futures 0.52%.
Japan’s Nikkei tumbled 3.4% and was on course to lose nearly 10% for the week, its worst weekly performance since March 2020.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.5% in thin trade, with markets in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan closed for a holiday. The index was set to lose more than 2% for the week.
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