Donald Trump<\/a> threatened 100% tariffs on Chinese goods in retaliation for Beijing\u2019s new rare-earth export controls.When asked about the possibility of a prolonged trade conflict, Trump bluntly told reporters, \u201cWell, you\u2019re in one now\u2026 We have a 100 percent tariff. If we didn\u2019t have tariffs, we would be exposed as being a nothing.\u201dDespite the hawkish tone, treasury secretary Scott Bessent suggested a more conciliatory approach, proposing a potential extension of the tariff truce if Beijing delays its rare-earth restrictions.Trump still plans to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea later this month.<\/p>\nFed rate cut expectations support markets<\/p>\n
Investors were also encouraged by data from the Fed\u2019s \u201cBeige Book\u201d survey, which pointed to a softer US job market, echoing other recent weak economic indicators. Fed chair Jerome Powell had warned earlier this week that \u201cthe downside risks to employment appear to have risen,\u201d reinforcing market bets on additional rate cuts.Economists, however, remain cautious. Bank of America noted that uncertainties persist over trade, inflation, growth, and US policy, including healthcare and drug pricing.<\/p>\n
Safe-haven assets climb<\/p>\n
The combination of trade war jitters, rate cut expectations, and a weaker dollar pushed gold to new daily records, reaching $4,234.70 on Thursday. <\/p>\n
Key market figures <\/p>\n
India \u2013 Sensex: UP 0.56% at 83,064.09; Nifty 50: UP 0.54% at 25,459.70 (at 12 pm)Tokyo \u2013 Nikkei 225: UP 0.9% at 48,088.07Hong Kong \u2013 Hang Seng: UP 0.2% at 25,953.67Shanghai \u2013 Composite: UP 0.1% at 3,914.85Euro\/USD: UP to $1.1670 from $1.1645Pound\/USD: UP to $1.3436 from $1.3400Dollar\/Yen: DOWN to 150.54 from 151.24WTI crude: UP 0.8% at $58.71\/bblBrent crude: UP 0.7% at $62.34\/bblNew York \u2013 Dow Jones: FLAT at 46,253.31London \u2013 FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3% at 9,424.75Markets in Sydney, Seoul, Wellington, Taipei, and Manila also posted gains as traders balanced geopolitical risks with hopes for accommodative US monetary policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Asian markets edged higher on Thursday as investors weighed escalating tensions in the US-China trade war alongside expectations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[63486,11366,138,65,219,866,5548,111,139,7096,69,11385,1814,39914,4233],"class_list":{"0":"post-82672","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-asia-pacific-economic-cooperation","9":"tag-asian-markets","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-economy","13":"tag-federal-reserve","14":"tag-jerome-powell","15":"tag-new-zealand","16":"tag-newzealand","17":"tag-nifty-50","18":"tag-nz","19":"tag-scott-bessent","20":"tag-sensex","21":"tag-us-china-trade-war","22":"tag-wall-street"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Asian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/this-is-a-representational-image-pic-credit-lexica.jpg\")
Asian markets edged higher on Thursday as investors weighed escalating tensions in the US-China trade war alongside expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates this year.The region\u2019s gains follow a broadly positive session on Wall Street and mark a second consecutive day of recovery, as traders focused on softer US economic data and central bank signals that may favour further monetary easing.<\/p>\n