US stocks tumbled on Thursday while the dollar slumped, as investors bet that Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs would result in pain for the US economy.
The S&P 500 fell 4.3 per cent in morning trading. The Nasdaq Composite tumbled 5.6 per cent, dragged down by an 8 per cent fall for index heavyweight Apple.
The dollar was down 2.4 per cent against a basket of rivals, on course for its biggest daily decline since 2015.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was down 7 per cent at $69.71 a barrel. WTI, the US benchmark, fell 7.6 per cent to $66.29 a barrel.
“The collapse is a loss of confidence in dollar-denominated assets in general,” said Francesco Pesole, a currency strategist at ING. “It’s a vote of no confidence on 100 days of Trump.”
The moves came after Trump said a levy of 10 per cent would apply to nearly all US imports from April 5, and that dozens of countries, including China, would be subject to further “reciprocal” tariffs from April 9.
European stocks were also hit on Thursday, with the continent-wide Stoxx Europe 600 index down 2.5 per cent, led by a big sell-off in shares of export-focused companies.
“THE OPERATION IS OVER! THE PATIENT LIVED, AND IS HEALING,” Trump wrote on Thursday on his Truth Social platform.
“THE PROGNOSIS IS THAT THE PATIENT WILL BE FAR STRONGER, BIGGER, BETTER, AND MORE RESILIENT THAN EVER BEFORE,” he added.
