Asian markets plunge as Japan's Nikkei 225 index dives nearly 8 per cent

Asian shares nosedived on Monday after the meltdown Friday on Wall Street over US President Donald Trumps tariff hikes and the backlash from Beijing US futures also signaled further weakness The future for the SampP 500 lost 4237 while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 3537 The future for the Nasdaq lost 5337Tokyos Nikkei 225 index lost nearly 837 shortly after the market opened and Australias SampPASX 200 tumbled more than 637 South Koreas Kospi lost 4437 Oil prices sank further with US benchmark crude down 437 or 250 at 5949 per barrel Brent crude the international standard gave up 225 to 6333 a barrelOn Friday Wall Streets worst crisis since COVID slammed into a higher gear The SampP 500 plummeted 637 and the Dow plunged 5537 The Nasdaq composite dropped 5837The losses came after China matched President Donald Trumps big raise in tariffs announced last week upping the stakes in a trade war that could end with a recession that hurts everyone Even a betterthanexpected report on the US job market usually the economic highlight of each month wasnt enough to stop the slideSo far there have been few if any winners in financial markets from the trade war Stocks for all but 14 of the 500 companies within the SampP 500 index fell Friday The price of crude oil tumbled to its lowest level since 2021 Other basic building blocks for economic growth such as copper also saw prices slide on worries the trade war will weaken the global economyChinas response to US tariffs caused an immediate acceleration of losses in markets worldwide The Commerce Ministry in Beijing said it would respond to the 3437 tariffs imposed by the US on imports from China with its own 3437 tariff on imports of all US products beginning April 10 among other measuresThe United States and China are the worlds two largest economies The central question looking ahead is Will the trade war cause a global recession If it does stock prices may need to come down even more than they have already The SampP 500 is down 17437 from its record set in FebruaryTrump seemed unfazed From MaraLago his private club in Florida he headed to his golf course a few miles away after writing on social media that THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO GET RICH The Federal Reserve could cushion the blow of tariffs on the economy by cutting interest rates which can encourage companies and households to borrow and spend But the Fed may have less freedom to move than it would likeFed Chair Jerome Powell said Friday that tariffs could drive up expectations for inflation and lower rates could fuel still more price increases Our obligation is to keep longerterm inflation expectations well anchored and to make certain that a onetime increase in the price level does not become an ongoing inflation problem Powell saidMuch will depend on how long Trumps tariffs stick and what kind of retaliations other countries deliver Some of Wall Street is holding onto hope that Trump will lower the tariffs after prying wins from other countries following negotiationsTrump has said Americans may feel some pain because of tariffs but he has also said the longterm goals including getting more manufacturing jobs back to the United States are worth it On Wall Street stocks of companies that do lots of business in China fell to some of the sharpest lossesDuPont dropped 12737 after China said its regulators are launching an antitrust investigation into DuPont China group a subsidiary of the chemical giant Its one of several measures targeting American companies and in retaliation for the US tariffs GE Healthcare got 1237 of its revenue last year from the China region and it fell 1637In the bond market Treasury yields fell but they pared their drops following Powells cautious statements about inflation The yield on the 10year Treasury fell to 40137 from 40637 late Thursday and from roughly 48037 early this year It had gone below 39037 in the morningThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeveratOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params