Stock markets tumble as US tariffs cause recession fears
Stock markets around the world plunged deep into the red on Monday, adding to last week's heavy losses. Investors remain concerned about the ongoing uncertainty surrounding US president Donald Trump's import tariffs.
The S&P 500 Index plunged more than 3 per cent, wiping out all the gains since Trump was elected. Technology stocks in particular were hit hard, with losses of 4 per cent and more for companies such as Apple, Meta Platforms and Nvidia. This also dragged down European equities, including the Bel20 index, which fell 2.42 per cent.
Investors fear that higher US tariffs on many foreign goods will hurt economic growth and fuel inflation. In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Trump failed to allay those fears, saying he could not rule out a US recession this year. "There's a transition period because what we're doing is very big," he said.
The S&P's biggest loser on Monday was Tesla. The electric car company, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, fell over 15 per cent over the course of the trading day, fuelled by fears over tariffs and falling car sales in Europe. Musk is one of Trump's closest allies and is responsible for mass firings of US government workers.
The fall in Tesla's share price was not the only worry for Musk on Monday. On the same day, a "massive cyberattack" caused multiple outages for his social networking service X. "We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved," he wrote on X.
Musk paid 44 billion dollars for the social media site in 2022 and subsequently reduced the company's workforce by about 80 per cent, from 7,500 to 1,300 employees. X has suffered several major outages since he took over.
© PHOTO ANGELA WEISS / AFP
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