‘A rough day ahead’ as NZ stocks drop after market meltdown

The New Zealand sharemarket dropped 2% at the open and looks set for a rough day after overseas markets were aggressively sold down following the announcement of worse-than-expected United States tariffs last week by President Donald Trump. After a few minutes the S&P/NZX50 Index was down 249 points, led by a fall in the market’s biggest stock F&P Healthcare, which dropped 4.8%.

As expected, China launched a tit-for-tat retaliation with a 34% duty on all US imports, thereby raising the odds of a full-blown trade war. Trump’s moves will take average US tariffs on Chinese goods to 76%. Trillions of dollars have been wiped off the value of the US stock market in response to the tariffs as investors fear their inflationary impact, which may also stymie economic growth.



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