Currency traders watch computer monitors near the screen showing news reporting with a picture of President Trump at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul on Tuesday.
Lee Jin-man/AP
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Lee Jin-man/AP
In the wake of a period marked by sell-offs, stock markets in both Europe and Asia showed slight signs of recovery on Tuesday. This comes after a significant downturn that followed President Trump’s declaration of new global trading tariffs.
Indicators suggest that U.S. stock markets might open with a modest increase, as suggested by futures trading data, despite recent volatile sessions on Wall Street. Monday’s trading was particularly rocky, marking the third day of erratic stock movements.
Despite the slight gains observed on Tuesday, major slides in stock values across global markets—from Shanghai to New York, Frankfurt to Tokyo—have already led to substantial financial losses, erasing trillions from the market.
In Asia, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong and the Shanghai Composite in China both ended Tuesday with small gains. Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei index rose by more than 6% after hitting an 18-month low on Monday, having lost nearly 20% of its value in the last two weeks.
European markets have also opened on a positive note Tuesday, though the continent’s major stock markets have faced considerable losses recently, even before the impact of U.S. tariffs on European exports becomes fully apparent.
Amidst the market turmoil, gold prices have surged beyond $3,000 an ounce. This trend draws parallels to the late 1970s and 1980s, another era marked by geopolitical and economic uncertainty.
Simultaneously, the U.S. dollar, traditionally seen as a safe investment, might continue to weaken as uncertainties around the U.S.’s international role persist.
In China, several large corporations, including state-backed entities, have announced share buybacks to stabilize the local equity markets.
Chinese officials declared on Tuesday their determination to resist further U.S. tariff threats, stating emphatically that “China will fight till the end if the U.S. side is bent on going down the wrong path.” More details on China’s response can be found here.
