How my SMSF beat big super without buying CBA
US President Donald Trump's unpredictable and often irrational actions made investing tricky, but they also created opportunities for the fleet-footed.
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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."
Sky News AU
5 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Tony Abbott claims 'hard to know' where Albanese government stands in ‘dictatorship and democracy' choice between China, US
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has reproached the Albanese government for putting Australia's alliance with the United States at risk. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been rebuked in recent days for pushing away the US while cozying up to China, with his latest speech at the John Curtin Research Centre over the weekend drawing ire from politicians and pundits alike. In his weekend address, on the 80th anniversary of former prime minister John Curtin's death, Mr Albanese distanced Australia from its history as a close ally of the US and said the country would pursue its interests as a 'sovereign nation' and not be 'shackled to the past'. Speaking to Sky News host Peta Credlin, Mr Abbott said the 'bedrock' alliance with the US was 'potentially at risk' due to the Labor government's seemingly lopsided diplomacy. 'Is the Albanese government more on the side of communist China? Or is it more on the side of the country that's been the leader of the free world all these decades?' he said. Later this month, Mr Albanese will meet with China's President Xi Jinping for the fourth time, while he is still yet to meet US President Donald Trump. Mr Abbott said if he was back in charge, there were two things he would do to turn the tide of Australia's dwindling friendship with America. 'First of all, you've got to swiftly lift our defence spending, our military spending, to the three per cent of GDP that people like Kim Beasley and the authors of the government's own defence review have said is essential,' he said. The Albanese government has previously resisted calls from the United States to lift defence spending to 3.5 per cent. Mr Albanese has insisted any defence spend decision will be based on national interest, not external pressure, amid demands from US President Donald Trump and the Coalition. Mr Abbott's second point was to make it 'crystal clear' Australia was behind the US. 'You've got to make it crystal clear that in any conflict between communist China and the leader of the free world, we'll be on America's side,' he said. 'Now, we hope that there will never be any conflict, because it would be diabolical, but the best way to avoid conflict is deterrence through strength, peace through strength.' 'In any choice between dictatorship and democracy, we know where we stand.'
