9h ago01.38 BST

Almost $5tn was wiped off the value of global stock markets last week after Donald Trump launched his tariff offensive last Wednesday.

The US market was particularly hard hit. The benchmark S&P 500 lodged its biggest weekly drop since March 2020 and the Nasdaq Composite on Friday ended down more than 20% from its December record high, confirming the tech-heavy index is in a bear market.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the week down well over 10% from its December record high, marking a correction for the blue-chip index.

9h ago01.32 BST

Oil prices fell more than 3% on Monday – extending losses from the previous week – on growing concerns that a global trade war could slow the global economy and weaken oil demand.

Brent futures declined $2.1, or 3.2%, to $63.48 a barrel at 1027 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures lost $2.14, or 3.5%, to $59.85, Reuters reports.

Both benchmarks plunged 7% on Friday to settle at their lowest in over three years as China ramped up tariffs on US goods in retaliation at Donald Trump』s tariffs, escalating a trade war that has led investors to price in a higher probability of recession.

View image in fullscreen

File photo of a pumpjack from US-based energy company Signal Hill Petroleum in California. Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images

Responding to Trump』s tariffs, China on Friday said it would impose additional levies of 34% on American goods, confirming investor fears that a full-blown global trade war is under way.

Investment bank JPMorgan said it now saw a 60% chance of a global economic recession by year-end, up from 40% previously.

9h ago01.25 BST

Nikkei drops over 7%

Japan』s Nikkei index has plunged more than 7%, Agence France-Presse is reporting, after having it down 5% and, a little earlier, 3.6% following its opening today.

The fall extends last week』s 9% drop – its steepest one-week percentage decline since March 2020.

9h ago01.18 BST

You have to 'take medicine' sometimes – Trump

Donald Trump has said about falling markets that 「medicine」 can be necessary at times, adding that he was not intentionally engineering a market selloff.

「I don』t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,」 the US president told reporters aboard Air Force One on the economic fallout from his sweeping tariffs.

9h ago01.17 BST

Welcome

Hello and welcome to our business blog covering the global fallout to the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump last week.

The US president』s decision to bring in levies of up to 50% on imports into the US rocked stock markets. As a new week dawns, traders, investors and consumers across the world are braced for further falls.

Stay with us to follow all the developments.

From 3h ago

08.12 BST

FTSE 100 plunges 6% to one-year low

Britain』s stock market has plunged deep into the red at the start of trading.

Stocks are sliding sharply again, adding to last week』s heavy losses, as investors grow more fearful that Donald Trump』s trade policies will lead to recession.

In London, the FTSE 100 index of blue-chip stocks has plunged by 488 points, or 6%, taking the index down to 7566 points, its lowest level since February 2024.

That』s an even more severe plunge than the near-5% wipeout on Friday after China retaliated against the US with its own new tariffs.

Every share on the FTSE 100 is in the red, with UK manufacturing firm Rolls-Royce tumbling by 13%.

Miners, banks, and investment firms are also in the top fallers.

There is widespread disappointment this morning that there was no progress on US trade tariffs over the weekend, with Trump described his new tariffs as necessary 『medicine』.

Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, says investors are desperate to see 『concrete action』, such as a pause or u-turn on Trump』s tariffs.

This market is looking for concrete action, not talk of action. The best panacea for financial markets right now would be a pause or reversal from the US on its tariff programme.

19m ago10.24 BST

We』ve reached the scale in the crisis when central banks are pondering whether to intervene in the markets.

Over in Jakarta, Indonesia』s central bank said today it would 「intervene aggressively」 in domestic foreign exchange markets when they re-open on Tuesday for the first time since new U.S. tariffs were announced, Bloomberg reports.

Bank Indonesia said in a statement that it had already intervened offshore in Asia, European and New York curency markets.

It added:

「Bank Indonesia』s series of measures are aimed at stabilising the rupiah exchange rate and maintaining the confidence of market participants and investors in Indonesia.」

In Taipei, Taiwan』s central bank said it will intervene if necessary to ensure the stability of the Taiwan dollar exchange rate, ading that it has 「sufficient ability」 to deal with fluctuations.

31m ago10.12 BST

We are now back on 『US recession watch』 thanks to Trump』s tariffs, reports. Dario Perkins, City economist at TS Lombard.

Perkins (inventor of the 「moron risk premium」 concept during the UK bond market crash under Liz Truss), told clients:

With Liberation Day causing shockwaves across global markets (our expectations were low but holy…) we are now firmly back on US recession watch. Prices will rise, real incomes will drop, and it will be the labour market that determines what happens after that.

As always, employment is the key to US recessions.

"But it's just Wall Street, not Main Street?" 1. Tariffs are highly regressive, hitting people on low incomes hardest. 2. Corporate profits will decline and companies will respond by firing workers. That ain't good for "worker power" ..

— Dario Perkins (@darioperkins) April 7, 2025"}}" data-island-status="hydrated" style="box-sizing: border-box;">