Global stock markets and oil prices slumped on Monday as U.S. President Donald Trump remained resolute on his tariffs, despite growing fears of a recession.
Trading floors worldwide saw waves of selling after last week's sharp losses, with Trump urging Americans to "be strong, courageous, and patient" minutes before the New York market opened, leading to a more than three percent drop.
Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 finished lower, while the Nasdaq posted a modest gain. However, Hong Kong’s stock market collapsed by 13.2 percent in its worst day in nearly 30 years.
Trillions of dollars were wiped off global stock market valuations in recent sessions. Taipei saw its worst fall on record, with stocks plunging 9.7 percent, while Tokyo dropped almost eight percent. Frankfurt saw a loss of 4.1 percent after earlier dropping as much as 10 percent.
"The carnage in global equity markets has continued," said Thomas Mathews, Asia Pacific head of markets at Capital Economics.
On Saturday, a 10 percent "baseline" tariff on imports from around the world took effect. Higher duties will hit several countries from Wednesday, including 34 percent tariffs on Chinese goods and 20 percent on EU products. Beijing retaliated last week with its own 34 percent tariff on U.S. goods, effective Thursday.
Trump threatened an additional 50 percent tariff on China if Beijing does not withdraw its retaliation plans, heightening concerns of more tit-for-tat tariff hikes.
Major U.S. stock indices briefly surged into positive territory after reports that White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Trump was considering a 90-day tariff pause. However, markets retreated when the White House denied the report, stating that Hassett's interview had been misquoted.
Despite the market turmoil, Trump said on Sunday that he would not make a deal with other countries unless trade deficits were addressed. “Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” Trump said, referring to the market pain caused by his tariffs.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned that the tariffs would likely increase inflation, though he noted that it remains uncertain whether they will trigger a recession.
Oil prices also fell more than two percent on concerns about future energy demand, with both major contracts hitting their lowest levels since 2021 before trimming losses.
Key market figures (as of 2050 GMT):
New York
Dow: DOWN 0.9 percent at 37,965.60
S&P 500: DOWN 0.2 percent at 5,062.25
Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 15,603.26
London
FTSE 100: DOWN 4.4 percent at 7,702.08
Paris
CAC 40: DOWN 4.8 percent at 6,927.12
Frankfurt
DAX: DOWN 4.1 percent at 19,789.02
Tokyo
Nikkei 225: DOWN 7.8 percent at 31,136.58
Hong Kong
Hang Seng Index: DOWN 13.2 percent at 19,828.30
Shanghai
Composite: DOWN 7.3 percent at 3,096.58
Oil Prices
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 2.1 percent at $60.70 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.1 percent at $64.21 per barrel
Currencies
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0904 from $1.0956 on Friday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2723 from $1.2887
Dollar/yen: UP at 147.83 yen from 146.93 yen
Euro/pound: UP at 85.68 pence from 85.01 pence