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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.


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."

News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass slams ‘outrageous' military presence, says city is ‘under siege'
Tensions continue to bubble in Los Angeles following the recent riots that broke out in response to Donald Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. A senior border official said on Monday that federal agents would remain in the Californian capital 'until that mission is accomplished'. Their presence has been heavily criticised by the city's mayor, Karen Bass. The situation escalated again this week as heavily armed personnel from ICE, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and military units deployed by Mr Trump arrived in force at MacArthur Park. Officers were seen carrying rifles, patrolling the area on foot, horseback, and in armoured vehicles. Ms Bass boldly interrupted a scheduled meeting with California Governor Gavin Newsom to confront the agents in person, denouncing the show of force as a 'political stunt' by the Republicans. 'They need to leave and they need to leave right now!' she shouted, moments after speaking by phone with someone overseeing the operation. 'What I saw in the park today looked like a city under siege,' Ms Bass later told reporters. 'It's outrageous and un-American to have armed vehicles in our American parks.' She reportedly had a brief exchange with CBP Assistant Chief Patrol Agent David Kim, who connected her 'directly to the head of customs'. She said the agents began to withdraw shortly afterwards. However, Border Patrol El Centro Sector Chief Gregory Bovino made it clear that federal forces would not be stepping back. 'The federal government is not leaving LA. … The federal government does not work for Karen Bass. We're going to be here until that mission is accomplished,' Mr Bovino told Fox Los Angeles. 'Better get used to us now because this is going to be normal very soon,' he added. Ms Bass and members of the Los Angeles City Council criticised the raid for disrupting a children's summer camp, forcing the children to take shelter in a nearby basement while the operation unfolded. Health workers from the St. John's Community Health Center, who provide daily medical checks to homeless people in the park, were also forced to leave. Ms Bass later took to social media platform X to condemn the operation, posting a time-lapse video showing agents marching across an empty football pitch. 'Minutes before, there were more than 20 kids playing — then, the MILITARY comes through,' she wrote. 'The SECOND I heard about this, I went to the park to speak to the person in charge to tell them it needed to end NOW. Absolutely outrageous.' It remains unclear whether any arrests were made. According to the Los Angeles Times, local activists had warned people in the park in advance of the sweep. 'I think the goal is to spread fear,' Ms Bass said of the raid, reaffirming her commitment to keeping Los Angeles a sanctuary city for migrants. The Los Angeles Police Department said it had no knowledge of the federal operation at MacArthur Park. The US Department of Homeland Security stated that it does not comment on ongoing enforcement actions. Los Angeles has been a flashpoint for Trump-era immigration policy, with the city recently witnessing chaotic raids and public protests. The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against the city, accusing it of obstructing immigration enforcement through its sanctuary city stance. Ms Bass said the city would challenge the former president's actions in court, including the use of military-style deployments in Los Angeles.