The Japan Times - Stocks sink again as Trump holds firm on tariffs

Trading floors across the globe were overcome by waves of further selling after last week's sharp losses, with Trump telling Americans to "be strong, courageous, and patient," minutes before the New York stock market opened to drops of over three percent.

Hong Kong collapsed by 13.2 percent in its worst day in nearly three decades.

Trillions of dollars have been wiped off combined stock market valuations in recent sessions.

Taipei stocks suffered their worst fall on record Monday, tanking 9.7 percent, while Tokyo closed down by almost eight percent.

Frankfurt fell as much as 10 percent in early trading before paring back losses to trade around 4.6 percent lower in afternoon deals.

Bitcoin tumbled while the dollar was mixed after sharp losses last week.

"The carnage in global equity markets has continued," said Thomas Mathews, Asia Pacific head of markets at Capital Economics.

He said Trump could still pare back his tariffs.

"But, if he doesn't, equities could get a lot sicker yet."

A 10-percent "baseline" tariff on imports from around the world took effect Saturday.

A slew of countries will be hit by higher duties from Wednesday, with levies of 34 percent for Chinese goods and 20 percent for EU products.

Beijing announced last week its own 34-percent tariff on US goods, which will come into effect on Thursday.

Canada on Monday launched a WTO complaint against US auto tariffs.

The EU said it had made an offer to the United States for the two sides to have zero tariffs on cars and other industrial goods, while Tokyo agreed to more talks with Washington.

- Bitter medicine -

Hopes that the US president would rethink his policy in light of the turmoil were dashed Sunday when he said he would not make a deal with other countries unless trade deficits were solved.

"Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something," he said of the ructions that have wiped trillions of dollars off company valuations, which impacts the retirement savings of a large number of Americans.

On Monday, Trump told Americans "Don't be Weak! Don't be Stupid!... Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!"

In a letter to shareholders, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned that Trump's broad tariffs "will likely increase inflation".

"Whether or not the menu of tariffs causes a recession remains in question, but it will slow down growth," Dimon said, concluding that "the recent tariffs will likely increase inflation."

With the start of the first quarter earnings reports, the market is likely to get a flurry of updated outlooks by companies that could further dampen sentiment.

Monday's savage selling was across the board, with no sector spared.

Tech firms, carmakers, banks, casinos and energy firms all felt the pain as investors abandoned riskier assets.

Concerns about future energy demand saw oil prices sink as much as three percent, having dropped some seven percent Friday.

Both main contracts hit their lowest levels since 2021.

The Kremlin said it was monitoring the plummeting price of oil -- on which Russia's economy is highly dependent.

- Key figures around 1330 GMT -

New York - Dow: DOWN 3.0 percent at 37,166.35 points

New York - S&P 500: DOWN 3.3 percent at 4,908.53

New York - Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 3.9 percent at 14,978.03

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 4.4 percent at 7,698.31

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 4.7 percent at 6,931.42

Frankfurt - DAX: DOWN 4.6 percent at 19,687.87

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 7.8 percent at 31,136.58 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 13.2 percent at 19,828.30 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 7.3 percent at 3,096.58 (close)

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2. percent at $60.27 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2. percent at $63.85 per barrel

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0966 from $1.0962 on Friday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2804 from $1.2893

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 146.67 yen from 146.98 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 85.64 pence from 85.01 pence

burs-rl/lth

K.Yamaguchi--JT