US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday, Australian time, that adjusted so-called reciprocal tariffs on many countries, with new levies ranging from 10 per cent to 41 per cent.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump told NBC News in a phone interview that he was open to more compelling offers, but it was “too late” for some nations to avoid duties as of next week.<\/p>\n
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Donald Trump initiated another round of tariffs on Friday.\u00a0 (Reuters: Kent Nishimura)<\/p>\n
“It was a perfect storm,” Marcus Today senior portfolio manager Henry Jennings said.<\/p>\n
“Weak revisions weighed more than the actual [July data].<\/p>\n
“[The employment data for July] could have been explained away.”<\/p>\n
Cracks emerge in US jobs market as Trump unveils new tariffs<\/a><\/p>\n Companies in the US are grappling with President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, government data showed Friday.<\/p>\n Analysts said there was head-scratching among financial market participants around how the employment data for May and June could have been so inaccurate.<\/p>\n Mr Trump responded by sacking Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner Erika McEntarfer.<\/p>\n “Trump blames the messenger, but uncertainty and tariffs are the real cause,” Mr Jennings said.<\/p>\n “[There has been] too much complacency [in financial markets] and reliance on technology [stocks] which is not the real world or economy.<\/p>\n “Chickens coming home to do their thing.”<\/p>\n Stock markets fall<\/p>\n Wall Street’s benchmark index, the S&P 500, closed down 101 points, or 1.6 per cent.<\/p>\n France’s CAC fell close to 3 per cent, while Germany’s DAX fell 639 points, or 2.7 per cent.<\/p>\n Investors sold equities or shares and bought US government bonds, sending their yields sharply down.<\/p>\n Bond yields move inversely to their prices.<\/p>\n The 10-Year US Treasury bond fell 0.15 per cent to 4.225 per cent.<\/p>\n Global markets have begun to fall.\u00a0 (AP: Seth Wenig)<\/p>\n “Bond markets had their biggest one-day drop in yields after a very soft jobs number and big downward revisions to prior months,” Jamieson Coote Bond’s James Wilson said.<\/p>\n “Bond markets are pricing in further economic slowdown and questioning whether the Federal Reserve will now need to cut more aggressively or put the US into recession.”<\/p>\n FNArena finance commentator, Danielle Ecuyer, said the news of tariffs and disappointing US economic data hit global stock markets that had been flirting with record highs.<\/p>\n “US markets went into Friday’s disappointing job report at record levels,” she said.<\/p>\n “When combined with higher than expected global tariffs, including on major trading partners like Canada, and a poor earnings outlook from tech giant Amazon, it was enough for profit taking and sellers to move in.<\/p>\n “August is a typically weak and volatile month for equity markets as the northern hemisphere goes on holiday.<\/p>\n “This year is unlikely to be different after the record V-shaped recovery from April lows.”<\/p>\n Wilson Asset Management owner Geoff Wilson told the ABC that global financial markets were now pricing in a serious downturn for the US economy.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n