1 week Ago
Stocks across Asia rose sharply, following gains on Wall Street, after US President Donald Trump announced a pause on most tariffs. Despite an increase in duties on Chinese goods, Shanghai markets opened higher. The move sparked the biggest surge in US shares since the global financial crisis, while US Treasuries also rallied after a volatile trading session.
Global markets extended gains on Thursday, with Asian indexes rising and European equity futures surging more than 9 per cent, after a strong rebound on Wall Street where the S&P 500 jumped 9.5 per cent. Meanwhile, the US dollar continued to weaken for a third consecutive day, and yields on 10-year Treasuries edged lower in early trading.
Markets in Asia continued to swing as investors reacted to Trump’s country-specific tariffs and sudden policy changes. Some billionaire investors criticised the tariffs, economists warned of a possible US recession, and market experts cut their stock forecasts as the president pushed to change global trade rules. “Investors across Asia and beyond are breathing a sigh of relief.
The postponement of reciprocal tariffs by the US allows more time for negotiations. For export-centred Asian economies this is especially important, given the growth impact steep US tariffs would have had,” Bloomberg quoted Frederic Neumann, chief Asia economist at HSBC Holdings Plc, as saying. Trump pauses tariffs on trade partners for 90 days Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs that took effect after midnight on several trade partners, while increasing tariffs on China to 125 percent.
He called the world’s biggest debt market a “thing of beauty” on Wednesday, as his sudden reversal on trade policy triggered sharp moves in bonds. While short-term US debt yields jumped with a rally in equities, the yield on 30-year debt declined more modestly. “It’s been a roller-coaster ride for the past week and we know one thing is for certain: if there’s any certainty in investing, that one certainty is that markets and investors don’t like uncertainty,” Ryan Nauman at Zephyr told Bloomberg “That’s what we’ve seen — the tariffs have been unpredictable.
And now we’re seeing the bounce today, which I think is really a relief rally, buying the dip, said Ryan. A $39 billion auction of 10-year notes attracted solid demand on Wednesday, just ahead of Trump’s remarks on trade. The response helped ease earlier concerns triggered by a weaker three-year note sale on Tuesday, offering a more optimistic setup for Thursday’s 30-year bond auction.
“The 90-day pause is an encouraging sign that negotiations with most countries have been productive,” said Mark Hackett at Nationwide. “It also injects some much-needed stability into a market rattled by uncertainty. That said, we’re not out of the woods yet.
Avoid the temptation to chase momentum and keep emotions in check,” added Mark. Economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. withdrew their prediction of a US recession after Trump declared a 90-day pause on the majority of his earlier tariff plans.
“Earlier today, before President Trump’s announcement, we had shifted to a recession baseline in response to the additional country-specific tariffs that went into effect this morning,” the Goldman Sachs team, led by Jan Hatzius, said Wednesday in a note. “We are now reverting to our previous non-recession baseline forecast.” In commodities, oil steadied after a rebound from a four-year low.
Gold edged higher after posting its biggest one-day gain in 18 months. Japan stocks jump, euro futures rise, Bitcoin slips Stocks S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 9:37 a.m.
Tokyo time Hang Seng futures were little changed Japan’s Topix rose 7.1 per cent Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 5 per cent Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 8.5 per cent Currencies The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.
2% The euro rose 0.2 per cent to $1.0976 The Japanese yen rose 0.
6 per cent to 146.85 per dollar The offshore yuan fell 0.1 per cent to 7.
3548 per dollar Cryptocurrencies Bitcoin fell 1 per cent to $82,330.09 Ether fell 1.6 per cent to $1,645.
51 Bonds The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 4.28% Australia’s 10-year yield declined 13 basis points to 4.27% Commodities West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.
1 per cent to $62.43 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.5 per cent to $3,098.
41 an ounce With Bloomberg, AFP inputs.
