Markets across the globe plunged into chaos on Monday as Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs sent shockwaves from Wall Street to Asia.
With no signs of backing down, US President Donald Trump doubled down on his aggressive trade stance, demanding that other nations “pay a lot of money” to lift duties as high as 50%.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 nosedived to its lowest level in over 18 months, with banks shedding almost a quarter of their market cap in just three sessions. India’s Dalal Street fared no better, with the Sensex and Nifty crashing more than 5% in pre-open trade.
At around 9:32 am, the Sensex was down 2,497.08 points to 72,867.61, and the Nifty50 fell 807.70 points to trade at 22,096.75. Broader indices, especially small- and mid-caps, bled heavily as the ripple effects of a potential global recession gripped investors.
Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said, “Globally, markets are going through heightened volatility caused by extreme uncertainty. No one has a clue about how this turbulence caused by Trump tariffs will evolve. Wait and watch would be the best strategy in this turbulent phase of the market.”
It may be noted that the global stock market crash has already wiped off trillions of dollars in market capitalisation, hitting shares of some of the biggest companies in the world. “Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” Trump said aboard Air Force One, brushing off concerns about the trillions of dollars already wiped from markets.
