Stocks dived and investors scrambled to the safety of bonds, gold and the yen on Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a bigger-than-expected wall of tariffs around the world's largest economy, upending trade and supply chains.
The high-flying tech sector was pummelled as manufacturing hubs in China and Taiwan faced new tariffs above 30%, bringing the total new levy to an eye-watering 54% on imports from China.
"The U.S. effective tariff rate on all imports look to be the highest level in over a century," said Citi's global rates trading strategist, Ben Wiltshire.
Nasdaq futures tumbled 3.3% and in after-hours trade some $760 billion was wiped from the market value of Magnificent Seven technology leaders. Apple shares, hit hardest as the company makes iPhones in China, were down nearly 7%.
S&P 500 futures fell 2.7%, FTSE futures fell 1.6%, while European futures fell nearly 2%.[.N]
Gold hit a record high above $3,160 an ounce, and oil, a proxy for global growth, slumped more than 2% to put benchmark Brent futures at $73.24 a barrel.
Japan's Nikkei was down 2.8% after earlier sliding to an eight-month low, with nearly every index member falling as shippers, banks, insurers and exporters copped a beating.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell more than 1%.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields dropped 14 basis points to a five-month low of 4.04% as investors braced for slower U.S. growth, while interest rate futures priced in a higher chance of interest rate cuts in the months ahead.
"The tariffs are so comprehensive and so much larger than we expected," said Jeanette Gerratty, chief economist at wealth advisory Robertson Stephens in the U.S. tech heartland of Menlo Park, California.
"People were talking earlier about whether clarity would boost the market. But now you have clarity, and no one likes what they see."
RISK TO GLOBAL TRADE
Trump announced a baseline 10% tariff on imports with far higher levies on some trading partners, particularly in Asia.
Besides China's 34% tax, Japan got a 24% tariff, Vietnam 46% and South Korea 25%. The European Union was hit with a 20% levy.
Chinese markets opened on a dour note, with the CSI300 blue-chip index down 0.24%, while the Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.1%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid 1.6%.
Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi fell 2%. Van Eck's Vietnam ETF fell more than 8% in after-hours trade. Australian shares fell 2%.
Markets in Taiwan were closed for a holiday.
China's yuan fell to its weakest since February 13 in the onshore market at 7.3060 per dollar, tracking its offshore counterpart, which bottomed at a two-month low earlier in the session.
Ten-year Japanese government bond futures made their sharpest jump in eight months.
"The tariffs announced today lead to significant risk to global trade," said Zhiwei Zhang, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management in Hong Kong.
"Supply chains in East Asia face pressure in particular."
The U.S. dollar was higher against Asian currencies in rollercoaster currency trade, except against the safe-haven yen which rose to the strong side of 148 yen per dollar..
Trump also shut a loophole used to ship low-value packages from China, which is likely to hurt China's giant online retailers.
Trading partners are expected to respond with countermeasures of their own that could lead to dramatically higher prices.
"The tariff rates unveiled this morning far exceed baseline expectations, and if they aren't negotiated down promptly, expectations for a recession in the U.S. will rise dramatically," IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said.
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