Trump’s tariffs and threats against the Federal Reserve continued to jar investors on Monday as stocks, oil and the U.S. dollar all weakened. Gold set another record high.
Markets on Monday continued to reverberate from President Trump’s trade war and threats to try to remove the chair of the Federal Reserve, with stocks slumping, the U.S. dollar continuing to lose ground and oil prices slipping.
U.S. stock markets, which reopen Monday after the Good Friday holiday, were pointing to a lower open. S&P 500 futures were 1 percent lower. Gold surged to another record high, as investors sought out assets not tied to the U.S. dollar.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225, Japan’s benchmark stock index, fell 1.3 percent. The Nikkei ended last week on an upswing on hopes of a trade deal with the United States. Taiwan stocks fell 1.5 percent. Stocks in Japan and Taiwan, both of which are highly intertwined trading partners with the United States, are the worst performers this year in Asia.
Many markets, including those in Hong Kong, Australia and much of Europe, remained closed on Monday for Easter holidays.
The price of oil, which has fallen as much as 24 percent since mid-January, was down nearly 3 percent on Monday, with Brent crude at about $66 a barrel. Oil prices are often considered a barometer of future economic growth, and they have been weighed down by the prospect that Trump’s tariffs will damage international trade.
The U.S. dollar continued its slide against nearly every other major currency. It fell more than 1 percent against the euro on Monday, to the lowest in more than three years. The dollar also fell against the Japanese yen, to its lowest level since September. The trend is even more stark against some other currencies: The dollar is the lowest it has been against the Swiss Franc in more than a decade.
