ASX to dip on open as Wall Street falls on Trump tariff pressure
Futures markets are pointing to a 30 point dip, of 0.35 per cent, at the open. The ASX closed down 13.7 points on Monday to 8589.30 after finishing last week at a record high. The Australian dollar was down slightly, fetching 64.99 US cents around 5.50am AEDT.
US stocks lost ground in afternoon trading on Monday. The S&P 500 was down 1.2 per cent in the first day of trading in the US after a holiday-shortened week. The benchmark index remains near its all-time high set last week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 641 points, or 1.4 per cent and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3 per cent lower.
Decliners outnumbered gainers by more than 5-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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Tesla tumbled 7.4 per cent for the biggest drop among S&P 500 stocks as the feud between CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump reignited over the weekend. Musk, once a top donor and ally of Trump, said he would form a third political party in protest over the Republican spending bill that passed last week.
The selling accelerated after the Trump administration released letters informing Japan and South Korea that their goods will be taxed at 25 per cent starting on August 1, citing persistent trade imbalances with the two crucial US allies in Asia.
'If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 25 per cent that we charge,' Trump wrote in the letters to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.
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Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
Wall St steadies, investors recover from tariff shock
Wall Street's main indexes largely have held firm, as jitters over President Donald Trump's latest tariff offensive were offset by mounting hopes that fresh talks with US trading partners could avert a full-blown global tariff war. On Monday, Trump warned partners from Japan and South Korea to smaller players that steep new US tariffs would kick in from August 1 — though he left the door open to delays if countries come forward with fresh proposals. Japan's top trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, held a 40-minute phone call with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday, where the two sides agreed to "actively" continue negotiations. In early trading on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 33.58 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 44,372.78, the S&P 500 gained 6.03 points, or 0.10 per cent, to 6,236.25 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 37.51 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 20,450.02. The sentiment has improved since a knee-jerk reaction on Monday, when all major indexes closed sharply lower following the tariff announcement. In S&P 500 sub-sectors, the energy index led the pack with a one per cent rise, while utilities dropped 1.3 per cent. In mega-cap stocks, shares of Tesla gained 1.5 per cent after the stock recorded its steepest single-day fall in nearly a month on Monday. "The market's taking comfort from the fact that the can has been kicked further down the road and the expectation remains that the bark is a lot worse than the bite," said Ben Laidler, head of equity strategy at Bradesco BBI. The swift market recovery is in stark contrast to the sharp selloff that followed "Liberation Day" tariff announcements three months ago — a rout that plunged the Nasdaq into bear territory and sent the Dow and S&P 500 into correction. Since then, Wall Street has rebounded, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both notching record highs last week, buoyed by a robust labour market that helped quiet recession worries. "We have not seen any dramatic economic consequences from big increase in tariffs," Laidler added. The US has so far reached trade agreements with only Britain and Vietnam. BofA Global Research and Goldman Sachs raised their year-end targets for the S&P 500 index, broadly driven by reduced policy uncertainty, resilient corporate earnings and potential interest rate cuts. Traders have now all but ruled out a July rate cut from the Federal Reserve, putting the odds of a September cut at around 63 per cent, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Minutes of the Fed's June rate-setting meeting are scheduled for release on Wednesday, which will offer investors more clarity on when the central bank might resume its policy easing cycle. Shares of solar stocks fell after Trump on Monday directed federal agencies to strengthen provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that repeal or modify tax credits for solar and wind energy projects. SunRun dropped 8.9 per cent, Enphase Energy lost 4.6 per cent and SolarEdge Technologies declined 4.2 per cent. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.57-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 2.17-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 47 new highs and 26 new lows.
West Australian
2 hours ago
- West Australian
EDITORIAL: After making good with China, Anthony Albanese must salvage the US relationship
That Anthony Albanese has managed to reset Australia's relationship with China is perhaps the great achievement of his prime ministership to date. It's worth reminding oneself just how bad things were between us and our largest trading partner just a few short years ago. Huge tariffs on agricultural products including barley, wine and cotton squeezed profit margins. De facto bans on beef, lobster and timber hit affected businesses hard. Coal exports to China fell from $13.7 billion in 2019 to virtually nothing the following year. Chinese ministers weren't taking taking calls from their Australian counterparts. When Mr Albanese eventually met with President Xi Jinping in Beijing in 2023, it ended a seven-year stint in the diplomatic deep freeze. Fast forward to 2025 and things are decidedly warmer. Trade again flows across borders unimpeded by tariffs. That has been welcome news for Australian exporters who have regained access to a hungry market and to Australians more broadly as benefits flow through the economy. Things aren't all rosy: China has shown it is still keen to flex its military muscles through ostentatious displays of strength. However relations at a ministerial level are vastly improved. Mr Albanese heads back to China on Saturday where he is expected to meet with President Xi for the fourth time. On the agenda will be a welcome conversation about broadened trade opportunities. However the Prime Minister's abundance of face time with President Xi brings into stark relief Australia's fraying relationship with the United States. Mr Albanese is yet to meet with Donald Trump, seven months after his inauguration as US President. And there is plenty the pair need to discuss. The 50 per cent tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium exports and 10 per cent tariffs on everything else. The Pentagon's 'review' of the AUKUS defence deal on which Australia has pinned its security hopes. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's demands that Australia dramatically increase its military budget. While our relations with the US — our most important strategic ally — are undoubtedly at their lowest ebb in recent memory, they haven't hit the crisis point of our dealings with China. But it is close. Mr Albanese says he will keep trying to convince Mr Trump to carve out an exemption for Australian exporters. But he has also been quick to stress that the 10 per cent tariff on most Australian goods is equal to the best deal extended to any nation as Mr Trump pursues his isolationist trade agenda. In other words: don't hold your breath waiting for a better outcome. Mr Albanese and his ministers need to apply the same diplomatic dexterity used to rebuild Australia's relations with China to the ailing US relationship. The Chinese example shows that it can be done, without kowtowing or major concessions. Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore.
The Advertiser
2 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Japan and S.Korea seek to soften Trump tariff blow
Powerhouse Asian economies Japan and South Korea will try to negotiate with the US to soften the impact of sharply higher tariffs that President Donald Trump now plans to impose from the start of August. Trump ramped up his trade war again on Monday, telling 14 nations that they would face tariffs ranging from 25 per cent for countries including Japan and South Korea, to 40 per cent for Laos and Myanmar. However, with the start date pushed back to August 1, those countries are focusing on the new three-week window to press for an easier ride. Japan wanted concessions for its large automobile industry, top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said on Tuesday. Akazawa said he held a 40-minute phone call with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in which the two agreed to actively continue negotiations. However, he said he would not sacrifice Japan's agriculture sector - a powerful political lobby domestically - for the sake of an early deal. South Korea said it planned to intensify trade talks over the coming weeks "to reach a mutually beneficial result". Asked if the latest deadline was firm, Trump replied on Monday: "I would say firm but not 100 per cent firm. "If they call up and they say we'd like to do something a different way, we're going to be open to that." Market reaction was muted as investors assessed the latest twist in the long-running trade saga. The European Union, which is the largest bilateral trade partner of the US, aimed to strike a deal before August 1 with negotiations focused on "rebalancing" and concessions for certain key export industries, a European source familiar with the negotiations said. Some EU sources had said late on Monday that the bloc was close to an agreement with the Trump administration. This could involve limited concessions to US baseline tariffs of 10 per cent for aircraft and parts, some medical equipment and spirits. Only two deals have been struck so far, with Britain and Vietnam. Washington and Beijing agreed to a trade framework in June, but with many details still unclear, traders and investors are watching to see if it unravels or leads to a lasting detente. Trump's trade tactics were making it hard for nations and businesses to plan with any certainty, the executive director of the United Nations trade agency said on Tuesday. "This move actually extends the period of uncertainty, undermining long-term investment and business contracts, and creating further uncertainty and instability," Pamela Coke-Hamilton, executive director of the International Trade Centre, told reporters in Geneva. Trump said the United States would impose tariffs of 25 per cent on goods from Tunisia, Malaysia and Kazakhstan, with levies of 30 per cent on South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, climbing to 32 per cent on Indonesia, 35 per cent on Serbia and Bangladesh, 36 per cent on Cambodia and Thailand and 40 per cent on Laos and Myanmar. A Bangladesh team in Washington was scheduled to have further trade talks on Wednesday, an official said. The US is the main export market for Bangladesh's ready-made garments industry, which accounts for more than 80 per cent of its export earnings and employs four million people. "This is absolutely shocking news for us," Mahmud Hasan Khan, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told Reuters on Tuesday. "We were really hoping the tariffs would be somewhere between 10-20 per cent. This will hurt our industry badly." Powerhouse Asian economies Japan and South Korea will try to negotiate with the US to soften the impact of sharply higher tariffs that President Donald Trump now plans to impose from the start of August. Trump ramped up his trade war again on Monday, telling 14 nations that they would face tariffs ranging from 25 per cent for countries including Japan and South Korea, to 40 per cent for Laos and Myanmar. However, with the start date pushed back to August 1, those countries are focusing on the new three-week window to press for an easier ride. Japan wanted concessions for its large automobile industry, top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said on Tuesday. Akazawa said he held a 40-minute phone call with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in which the two agreed to actively continue negotiations. However, he said he would not sacrifice Japan's agriculture sector - a powerful political lobby domestically - for the sake of an early deal. South Korea said it planned to intensify trade talks over the coming weeks "to reach a mutually beneficial result". Asked if the latest deadline was firm, Trump replied on Monday: "I would say firm but not 100 per cent firm. "If they call up and they say we'd like to do something a different way, we're going to be open to that." Market reaction was muted as investors assessed the latest twist in the long-running trade saga. The European Union, which is the largest bilateral trade partner of the US, aimed to strike a deal before August 1 with negotiations focused on "rebalancing" and concessions for certain key export industries, a European source familiar with the negotiations said. Some EU sources had said late on Monday that the bloc was close to an agreement with the Trump administration. This could involve limited concessions to US baseline tariffs of 10 per cent for aircraft and parts, some medical equipment and spirits. Only two deals have been struck so far, with Britain and Vietnam. Washington and Beijing agreed to a trade framework in June, but with many details still unclear, traders and investors are watching to see if it unravels or leads to a lasting detente. Trump's trade tactics were making it hard for nations and businesses to plan with any certainty, the executive director of the United Nations trade agency said on Tuesday. "This move actually extends the period of uncertainty, undermining long-term investment and business contracts, and creating further uncertainty and instability," Pamela Coke-Hamilton, executive director of the International Trade Centre, told reporters in Geneva. Trump said the United States would impose tariffs of 25 per cent on goods from Tunisia, Malaysia and Kazakhstan, with levies of 30 per cent on South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, climbing to 32 per cent on Indonesia, 35 per cent on Serbia and Bangladesh, 36 per cent on Cambodia and Thailand and 40 per cent on Laos and Myanmar. A Bangladesh team in Washington was scheduled to have further trade talks on Wednesday, an official said. The US is the main export market for Bangladesh's ready-made garments industry, which accounts for more than 80 per cent of its export earnings and employs four million people. "This is absolutely shocking news for us," Mahmud Hasan Khan, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told Reuters on Tuesday. "We were really hoping the tariffs would be somewhere between 10-20 per cent. This will hurt our industry badly." Powerhouse Asian economies Japan and South Korea will try to negotiate with the US to soften the impact of sharply higher tariffs that President Donald Trump now plans to impose from the start of August. Trump ramped up his trade war again on Monday, telling 14 nations that they would face tariffs ranging from 25 per cent for countries including Japan and South Korea, to 40 per cent for Laos and Myanmar. However, with the start date pushed back to August 1, those countries are focusing on the new three-week window to press for an easier ride. Japan wanted concessions for its large automobile industry, top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said on Tuesday. Akazawa said he held a 40-minute phone call with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in which the two agreed to actively continue negotiations. However, he said he would not sacrifice Japan's agriculture sector - a powerful political lobby domestically - for the sake of an early deal. South Korea said it planned to intensify trade talks over the coming weeks "to reach a mutually beneficial result". Asked if the latest deadline was firm, Trump replied on Monday: "I would say firm but not 100 per cent firm. "If they call up and they say we'd like to do something a different way, we're going to be open to that." Market reaction was muted as investors assessed the latest twist in the long-running trade saga. The European Union, which is the largest bilateral trade partner of the US, aimed to strike a deal before August 1 with negotiations focused on "rebalancing" and concessions for certain key export industries, a European source familiar with the negotiations said. Some EU sources had said late on Monday that the bloc was close to an agreement with the Trump administration. This could involve limited concessions to US baseline tariffs of 10 per cent for aircraft and parts, some medical equipment and spirits. Only two deals have been struck so far, with Britain and Vietnam. Washington and Beijing agreed to a trade framework in June, but with many details still unclear, traders and investors are watching to see if it unravels or leads to a lasting detente. Trump's trade tactics were making it hard for nations and businesses to plan with any certainty, the executive director of the United Nations trade agency said on Tuesday. "This move actually extends the period of uncertainty, undermining long-term investment and business contracts, and creating further uncertainty and instability," Pamela Coke-Hamilton, executive director of the International Trade Centre, told reporters in Geneva. Trump said the United States would impose tariffs of 25 per cent on goods from Tunisia, Malaysia and Kazakhstan, with levies of 30 per cent on South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, climbing to 32 per cent on Indonesia, 35 per cent on Serbia and Bangladesh, 36 per cent on Cambodia and Thailand and 40 per cent on Laos and Myanmar. A Bangladesh team in Washington was scheduled to have further trade talks on Wednesday, an official said. The US is the main export market for Bangladesh's ready-made garments industry, which accounts for more than 80 per cent of its export earnings and employs four million people. "This is absolutely shocking news for us," Mahmud Hasan Khan, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told Reuters on Tuesday. "We were really hoping the tariffs would be somewhere between 10-20 per cent. This will hurt our industry badly." Powerhouse Asian economies Japan and South Korea will try to negotiate with the US to soften the impact of sharply higher tariffs that President Donald Trump now plans to impose from the start of August. Trump ramped up his trade war again on Monday, telling 14 nations that they would face tariffs ranging from 25 per cent for countries including Japan and South Korea, to 40 per cent for Laos and Myanmar. However, with the start date pushed back to August 1, those countries are focusing on the new three-week window to press for an easier ride. Japan wanted concessions for its large automobile industry, top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said on Tuesday. Akazawa said he held a 40-minute phone call with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in which the two agreed to actively continue negotiations. However, he said he would not sacrifice Japan's agriculture sector - a powerful political lobby domestically - for the sake of an early deal. South Korea said it planned to intensify trade talks over the coming weeks "to reach a mutually beneficial result". Asked if the latest deadline was firm, Trump replied on Monday: "I would say firm but not 100 per cent firm. "If they call up and they say we'd like to do something a different way, we're going to be open to that." Market reaction was muted as investors assessed the latest twist in the long-running trade saga. The European Union, which is the largest bilateral trade partner of the US, aimed to strike a deal before August 1 with negotiations focused on "rebalancing" and concessions for certain key export industries, a European source familiar with the negotiations said. Some EU sources had said late on Monday that the bloc was close to an agreement with the Trump administration. This could involve limited concessions to US baseline tariffs of 10 per cent for aircraft and parts, some medical equipment and spirits. Only two deals have been struck so far, with Britain and Vietnam. Washington and Beijing agreed to a trade framework in June, but with many details still unclear, traders and investors are watching to see if it unravels or leads to a lasting detente. Trump's trade tactics were making it hard for nations and businesses to plan with any certainty, the executive director of the United Nations trade agency said on Tuesday. "This move actually extends the period of uncertainty, undermining long-term investment and business contracts, and creating further uncertainty and instability," Pamela Coke-Hamilton, executive director of the International Trade Centre, told reporters in Geneva. Trump said the United States would impose tariffs of 25 per cent on goods from Tunisia, Malaysia and Kazakhstan, with levies of 30 per cent on South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, climbing to 32 per cent on Indonesia, 35 per cent on Serbia and Bangladesh, 36 per cent on Cambodia and Thailand and 40 per cent on Laos and Myanmar. A Bangladesh team in Washington was scheduled to have further trade talks on Wednesday, an official said. The US is the main export market for Bangladesh's ready-made garments industry, which accounts for more than 80 per cent of its export earnings and employs four million people. "This is absolutely shocking news for us," Mahmud Hasan Khan, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told Reuters on Tuesday. "We were really hoping the tariffs would be somewhere between 10-20 per cent. This will hurt our industry badly."
