020 7898 0500The big talking point on Friday morning was Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. Several experts responded by suggesting that it could lead to a trade war which would be extremely bad news for all concerned. Quite what Trump is hoping to achieve by imposing the tariffs is still unclear, especially as he Tweeted that trade wars are good, and easy to win.
The dollar weakened after the Tweets and the stock market took a hit too. Let us hope that a meaningless trade war can be averted. The impact that Trump’s Tweets can have on the markets is truly extraordinary and is a clear sign of the times. The markets are unpredictable as it is, but once you throw the most powerful man in the world’s obsession with Twitter into the mix, almost anything can happen at any given moment.
The only real economic data release on Friday was the University of Michigan’s final consumer sentiment reading which hit 99.7. This was above the 99.5 expected and a significant jump from January’s figure of 95.7. It is the second strongest reading since 2004 and is yet more positive data for the US which is enjoying a good run.
Today we will have February’s composite and services PMI from the US, as well as the non-manufacturing PMI.
