Saturday 3 August 2019

Markets fall amid escalating trade tensions

Markets fell on Friday.

The S&P 500 fell 0.7 percent, the STOXX Europe 600 plunged 2.5 percent and the Nikkei 225 plunged 2.1 percent.

The US 10-year Treasury yield fell 2.9 basis points to 1.864 percent, its lowest since 7 November 2016.

After US President Donald Trump announced additional tariffs on Chinese imports on Thursday, the US-China trade war looks likely to escalate even further as China’s spokesperson at the foreign ministry, Hua Chunying, said at a daily press briefing that Beijing may have to take countermeasures.

And the US-China trade war is not the only trade tension ongoing. On Friday, Japan’s cabinet approved a plan to remove South Korea from a so-called “white list” of countries that enjoy trade privileges with Tokyo following a dispute over compensation for wartime forced labour. In response, South Korea’s finance minister said the country will take steps to drop Japan from its list of countries with fast-track export status.

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