President Donald Trump is accused of 'crashing' the stock market, and in his bid to usher in a new 'Gilded Age' for the USA, his mission to make America 'great' again seemingly isn't going the way he would've wanted.
Since Donald Trump stepped back into the White House on January 20, we've seen the American economy fluctuate. While there was originally a boom in cryptocurrencies at the time he launched his own meme coin, we've seen prices of everyday items rise and inflation alongside it.
Elsewhere, Elon Musk has been leading the Department of Government Efficiency in an attempt to shave $2 trillion off government spending and hopefully reduce the deficit.
Trump's dream of America and its citizens flourishing has led to his 'Liberation Day' tariff announcement, with China and the European Union being hit the hardest.
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The cost of goods is set to rise further, so good luck if you fancied buying a Nintendo Switch 2, while the tech industry is bracing to bear the brunt of these import tariffs.
Trumpenomics are in full effect, but with it, the POTUS managed to wipe some $2.3 trillion off the stock market in just 25 seconds.
We watched in real-time as stocks plummeted and the US dollar hit a six-month low.
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As Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on up to 60 countries, the S&P 500 suffered a $2.3 trillion loss in market capitalisation.
London's FTSE 100 dipped 1.3%, Germany’s Dax was down 1.6%, and France’s CAC40 1.8%. Due to a 24% tariff on Japan, Nikkei and Topix fell by 3.3% and 3.5%.
Things were even worse for Vietnam’s stock market, which fell 6.2% after being slapped with 46% tariffs.
As you can imagine, companies that rely heavily on manufacturing in places like China felt it most. Apple Inc. was tracked to open down 7.7% on Thursday morning, while Lululemon Athletica Inc. and Nike Inc.'s Vietnamese ties led to them being down 9%. Even US giants like Walmart Inc. were 4% down due to stores being stocked with imported products.
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Musk had previously warned that Tesla would feel the impact of the tariffs, and with its stocks already taking a recent hammering, they dropped by another 8%.
Responding to footage of the stock market crashing, one person wrote: "Wow, money to burn, but no friends to share the good news. Sounds a little lonely to me. What good is good when you are all alone and have no one to share it with. Trump has accomplished that. Would you trust us if you were in their place?"
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Referring to the closure of Atlantic City's Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, someone else added: "It always mystified me how Trump could bankrupt a casino..."
Case closed.”
A third gobsmacked onlooker concluded: "I'd say the really rich folks got off the market in January. They will come in later and buy it up for pennies on the dollar after the average American is broke. Impeach this SOB."
Speaking to Bloomberg, Homin Lee, a senior macro strategist at Lombard Odier Ltd. in Singapore, explained: "Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] economies will face significant headwinds in next few months due to the direct impact of sharp spikes in the US tariff rates on their exports as well as the indirect impact of the shock to global growth.
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"Whether or not the governments in the region can lower the tariff rates meaningfully through their bilateral negotiations with the Trump team remains to be seen.”