US tariffs disrupt world markets

Last week, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to impose sweeping reciprocal tariffs on over 180 countries, ranging from 10% to 50%.

The EU received 20%, China 34%, Vietnam 46%, Taiwan 32%, Japan 24%, India 26%, South Korea 25%, Thailand 36%, Switzerland 31%, Indonesia 32%, Malaysia 24%, Cambodia 49%, South Africa 30%, Bangladesh 30%, and Israel 17% in reciprocal tariffs.

Some countries, such as Türkiye, the UK, Brazil, Australia, the UAE, New Zealand, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, were subjected to 10% reciprocal tariffs each.

Surprisingly, some of the world’s most sanctioned countries, namely Russia, Cuba, Belarus, and the Democratic Republic of Korea, were not subjected to reciprocal tariffs, while the uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands of Australia were included.

Stocks in red

Major Asian and European stock markets recorded significant losses on Monday.

The Asia Dow, which tracks leading blue-chip companies across the region, fell 9.5% to 3,625.18 points as of 0820GMT.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index declined 7.8%, closing at 31,136.58 points.

The Hang Seng Index, a key benchmark for Hong Kong's blue-chip stocks, plunged 13.74% to 19,710.26 points -- marking its worst single-day performance in 16 years.

China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange dropped 7.34% to 3,096.58 points, while India’s Sensex index shed 3.95%, closing at 72,387.45.

Germany's DAX index posted a huge loss of around 10% to 18,523.6 early Monday as of 0715GMT.

Britain's FTSE100 index lost 6% to 7,592.33 points and France's CAC 40 index dropped by 6.7% to 6,786.23.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index also fell by 6.25% to 465.30.

Last week, US stocks ended Friday significantly lower as the Dow plunged 5.50%, or 2,231.07 points, to 38,314.86, the largest drop since June 2020.

The S&P 500 slipped 5.97%, or 322.44 points, to close at 5,074.08, the biggest fall since March 2020, also off more than 17% from its recent high.

The Nasdaq fell 5.82%, or 962.82 points, to 15,587.79, taking the index down 22% from its December record, entering into a bear market.

The VIX Index, also known as the “fear index," rose by 50.93% to 45.31.

Commodities post mixed figures, mostly negative

On Monday, as of 0810GMT, the barrel price of Brent oil dropped by 3.3% to $63.4 while natural gas prices fell around 2%.

The ounce price of gold lost 0.34% to $3,026. It saw over $3,100 level last week. Silver price went up by 1.6%.

The price of copper dropped by 0.7% and steel lost 2.43%.

Soybeans' price dropped by 0.38%, sugar 1.01%, corn 0.44%, palm oil 3.47%, cotton 0.72%, while wheat rose by 0.52% and coffee 0.38%, with rice was unchanged.

Digital assets

Bitcoin, as the largest cryptocurrency, dropped by 8.2% as of 0820GMT on a daily basis to $76,100.

Ethereum, with the second-largest market cap, fell by 17% to $1,488.

The whole digital currency market dropped by 10.43% to $2.37 trillion, Coinmarketcap data showed.

Ripple also lost 17.7% to $1.72.