Wall Street falls as tariff uncertainty weighs
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US will make several trade announcements in the next 48 hours, ahead of a deadline on Wednesday to finalise trade pacts.
President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the country was closer to inking several trade pacts and would notify other countries of higher tariff rates by July 9.
He added that those duties are set to take effect on August 1.
In April, Trump unveiled a base tariff rate of 10 per cent on most countries and additional duties ranging up to 50 per cent, subsequently pushing the Nasdaq into a bear market.
Although he later delayed the effective date for all but 10 per cent until July 9.
The new date offers countries a three-week window for further negotiations.
Trump also threatened an extra 10 per cent tariff on countries aligning themselves with the "Anti-American policies" of the BRICS group of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
In early trading on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 207.65 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 44,620.88, the S&P 500 lost 27.38 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 6,251.97 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 115.56 points, or 0.56 per cent, to 20,485.13.
Nine of the eleven major S&P sectors were trading in the red, with consumer discretionary falling the most by 1.0 per cent.
Electric vehicle maker Tesla dropped 6.8 per cent, on track for its worst day in over a month, after Musk announced the formation of a political party named the American Party, marking a new escalation in his feud with Trump.
"Tesla investors are starting to vote their displeasure with him getting back into politics. The potential for him to start his own American party is just the exact opposite of what Tesla investors want," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth.
Shares of WNS jumped 14.2 per cent after the French IT services firm Capgemini agreed to buy the outsourcing firm for $US3.3 billion ($A5.1 billion) in cash.
Monday's pullback also comes after the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at record highs on Thursday following a surprisingly strong jobs report that pointed to resilience in the labour market.
The Dow was about 1.0 per cent away from an all-time high.
Solid jobs data also backed the Federal Reserve's cautious stance on future interest rate cuts.
Traders have fully priced out a July rate cut, with September odds at 64.4 per cent, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.
Trump's inflation-causing tariff policies have further complicated the Fed's path to lower rates.
As a result, minutes of its June meeting, scheduled for release on Wednesday, should offer more clues on the monetary policy outlook.
Attention is also on a sweeping tax-cut and spending bill, passed by House Republicans after markets closed on Thursday, that is set to swell the national deficit by over $US3 ($A4.6) trillion in the next decade.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.1-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 1.86-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 69 new highs and 32 new lows.
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Herald Sun
13 minutes ago
- Herald Sun
Trump tariff threat clouds final day of BRICS summit
Don't miss out on the headlines from Breaking News. Followed categories will be added to My News. US President Donald Trump's decision to hit "anti-American" BRICS nations -- including China and India -- with an extra 10 percent trade tariff roiled the final day of the bloc's summit in Rio de Janeiro Monday. Trump threatened the 11-nation grouping -- which includes some of the world's fastest-emerging economies -- late on Sunday, after they warned against his "indiscriminate," damaging and illegal tariff hikes. "Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff," Trump wrote on social media. BRICS members account for about half the world's population and 40 percent of global economic output. Members China, Russia and South Africa responded coolly to Trump's latest verbal barrage, insisting the bloc was not seeking confrontation with Washington. But host Brazil's leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was less diplomatic. "We are sovereign nations," Lula said. "We don't want an emperor." Conceived two decades ago as a forum for fast-growing economies, BRICS has come to be seen as a Chinese-driven effort to curb US global influence. But it is a quickly expanding and often divergent grouping -- bringing together arch US foes like Iran and Russia, with some of Washington's closest allies in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Some US allies inside the bloc had tried to blunt criticism of Trump by not mentioning him or the United States by name in the summit statement. Saudi Arabia -- one of the biggest purchasers of US high-tech weapons -- even kept its foreign minister away from Sunday's talks and a BRICS group photo, seemingly to avoid Washington's ire. But such diplomatic gestures were lost on the US president who said "there will be no exceptions to this policy." - No shows - In April, Trump threatened a slew of punitive duties on dozens of economies, before backing off in the face of a fierce market sell-off. Now he is threatening to impose unilateral levies on trading partners unless they reach "deals" by August 1, with BRICS nations seemingly faced with higher tariffs than planned. It cannot have helped that BRICS leaders also condemned the recent US and Israeli bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities -- a show of solidarity with fellow member Iran. Beijing on Monday insisted BRICS was not seeking confrontation with the United States. "China has repeatedly stated its position that trade and tariff wars have no winners and protectionism offers no way forward," foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said. Beijing also defended the bloc as "an important platform for cooperation between emerging markets and developing countries." "It advocates openness, inclusivity, and win-win cooperation," Mao said. "It does not engage in camp confrontation and is not targeted at any country," she added. The Kremlin echoed that message with spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling Russian media that BRICS cooperation "has never been and will never be directed against third countries." The political punch of this year's summit has been depleted by the absence of China's Xi Jinping, who skipped the meeting for the first time in his 12 years as president. The Chinese leader is not the only notable absentee. Russian President Vladimir Putin, charged with war crimes in Ukraine, also opted to stay away, participating via video link. He told counterparts that BRICS had become a key player in global governance. arb/aks Originally published as Trump tariff threat clouds final day of BRICS summit
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An anti-hate taskforce has met for the first time in the wake of a spate of incidents involving Jewish institutions in a major capital city. The taskforce, set up by the Victorian government, heard from a number of stakeholders, including police, Premier Jacinta Allan revealed on Wednesday. It listened to members of the Jewish community, including Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler, all of whom shared their views on how the state can tackle anti-Semitism. It also heard from Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush on the force's readiness to act on the criminal components of the Anti-Vilification and Social Cohesion Act. Members were also told about the work of the government's Local Escalation and Help group, set up to facilitate communication between community leaders and the government. "We also discussed the importance of education in combatting anti-Semitism," Ms Allan said in a statement. "We agreed if there were further action we needed to take to keep Victorians safe, we will not hesitate to take it." Ms Allan said the government would introduce to parliament as soon as possible new laws aimed at "stamping out extreme, dangerous and radical public demonstrations." The taskforce will meet again in the coming weeks. The meeting came after worshippers were forced to flee the East Melbourne Synagogue after it was firebombed on the same night Israeli restaurant Miznon in the CBD was targeted by pro-Palestine protesters. Sydney man Angelo Loras, 34, has been charged over Friday night's synagogue firebombing. But Palestinian Australians have accused leaders of political silence, suspicion, hostility or surveillance when it comes to their plight and say they are met with protest crackdowns and threatened with repressive laws. "There have been no task forces, no public statements of care for Palestinians as they watch their loved ones massacred by the genocidal state of Israel, or are targeted by anti-Palestinian racism here in Australia," Australian Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni said on Tuesday. Mr Mashni demanded political leaders stop criminalising Palestinian resistance, grief and political expression and engage in meaningful consultation and inclusion in decisions that affect their lives and rights. "The longer political leaders ignore and avoid us, the more obvious their double standards become," he said. Miznon's owners have spoken of the "profound impact" of the incident on Friday. The demonstration outside the Hardware Lane restaurant ended with protesters smashing a glass door, up-ending tables and throwing chairs. About 20 protesters converged on the restaurant, some chanting "death to the IDF" in reference to the Israel Defence Forces. Police on Tuesday charged a 50-year-old Richmond man, a 48-year-old Footscray woman and a 28-year-old Essendon woman with assault, affray, riotous behaviour and criminal damage after another person was arrested and then released for hindering police that night. The restaurant said the actions of a few had caused much distress to customers, patrons and staff in neighbouring restaurants. "We respect everyone's right to their own nationality and religion. We ask for the same," the owners said in an Instagram post. Whistleblowers, Activists and Communities Alliance have claimed responsibility for the protest. Other offenders on Saturday spray-painted cars with anti-Semitic "inferences" then set them alight in the city's northeast, while a fourth incident involved offensive images spray-painted on pillars and walls near a Holocaust museum in Elsternwick.
