MARKET WRAP: JSE closes weaker as Donald Trump gets trigger happy with tariffs
Concern about a trade war between the US and China hit emerging-market sentiment badly, with European markets also sharply down on a recovering euro
The JSE closed weaker on Friday in renewed risk-off trade following US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs of $50bn of Chinese goods.China then announced retaliatory steps by imposing duties with "equal scale, equal intensity" on imports from the US, escalating trade tension between the two countries further.Concern about a trade war between the two nations hit emerging market sentiment badly, with European markets also down.The US decision could become the start of a tit-for-tat series of retaliatory moves, Dow Jones Newswires said.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Thursday that the economic boost from 2017’s tax cuts in the US would fade in 2019 and 2020, and the US economy would then slow considerably.The forecasts provide a sharp contrast to the economic outlook of the White House, which sees growth accelerating to a sustained 3% annual rate within five years. The IMF sees the US growing at about half that pace once the effects of the tax cuts fade....
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