Stocks slide, gold rallies as Trump's tariff shifts unsettle markets

Global stocks were lower on Monday dragged down by losses on Wall Street and in European equities as fresh uncertainty over US ​trade policy erupted following President Donald Trump's new global tariff in the wake ​of a Supreme Court ruling.

The US Supreme Court struck down Trump's emergency tariffs on Friday, leading ‌the president to quickly announce a new 10 per cent rate on all US imports, only to then lift it to 15 per cent on Saturday. The new tariffs are based on Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.44 per cent , the S&P 500 fell 1 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.2 per cent .

 

"We are giving up roughly half of Friday's gain due mostly to the shift to 15 per cent on Section 122 versus 10 per cent announced Friday, reminding us that uncertainty remains high," said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide in Philadelphia.

U.S. stock markets are also set to be tested later this week by earnings from Nvidia, which are likely to cause waves given that the chip designer makes up almost 8 per cent ‌of the S&P 500 index.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.2 per cent . Germany's DAX lost 0.75 per cent but Britain's FTSE 100 was flat. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell 0.63 per cent .

Gold climbed 1.9 per cent to $5,200 an ounce and silver rose 3 per cent to around $87.36 per ounce.

U.S. Treasury yields were lower across the board. The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes fell 2.7 basis points to 4.056 per cent . The 2-year note yield fell 0.8 basis points to 3.472 per cent .

TARIFF DILEMMA

It was unclear when the new tariffs would be imposed, what might be excluded and whether every country would face a 15 per cent rate. Some, ​including the UK and Australia, had 10 per cent tariff rates under the former rules, while many countries in Asia had ‌higher rates.

The Yale Budget Lab said the overall average effective tariff rate would stand at 13.7 per cent after Trump's announcement on Saturday, down from 16 per cent - the highest since 1936 - before the Supreme Court's ruling.

It ​added that it ‌expected the 15 per cent tariffs would expire after 150 days, following the Trade Act of 1974, under which they will ‌be set. If so, the average rate would fall to 9.1 per cent .

The US dollar was weaker against the euro, Japanese yen and Swiss franc. The dollar fell 0.41 per cent to 154.41 against the Japanese yen. Against the Swiss franc, ‌the ​dollar weakened 0.27 per cent to 0.774.

The euro was ​up 0.16 per cent at $1.1799. The dollar index rose 0.23 per cent to 97.60.

Brent crude oil prices rose 0.88 per cent to $72.35 a barrel, adding to the gains made last week when Trump said the US could strike Iran amid a large-scale ‌buildup of forces in ​the region. Further US-Iran talks are scheduled for Thursday.