President Trump will today announce the imposition of new tariffs, with the details being keenly awaited by markets and likely to cause significant volatility.
President Trump will announce new tariffs today, Wednesday 2nd April, with markets expecting a 25% tariff on all imports of automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and on almost all imports from Canada and Mexico and possibly the European Union as well. There is considerable uncertainty about the details, and whatever is announced will probably cause volatility in the stock, Forex, and commodity markets. President Trump will be speaking about it at 9pm London time, and this is also expected to be the announcement of the tariff details.
Markets have been relatively quiet as the tariff announcement approaches, with many stock markets yesterday selling off early then recovering later.
- Gold
made a bearish pullback yesterday after falling from its record high at $3,150 per ounce which it made earlier this week. Trend traders will be sticking with their long positions, hoping that Trump's tariffs will be worse than expected, as the shock to risk assets seems to be boosting Gold as a safe haven.
The Forex market was relatively quiet over the past day. Since today's Tokyo open, the Australian Dollar has been the strongest major currency, while the Japanese Yen has been the weakest.
There will be a release today of the ADP's US non-farm employment payroll forecast.
Yesterday's data releases in the USA came in lower than expected, suggesting a slowing economy, which should be negative for the USD as it will increase the likelihood of more Fed rate cuts in 2025. The data releases were:
JOLTS Job Openings
ISM Manufacturing PMI