Equities
Global stocks were down on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump unleashed his latest unexpected trade bombshell by recommending 50 per cent tariffs on European Union imports from June 1.
Wall Street futures looked set for a lower open, while TSX futures were flat.
Government bonds in the U.S. and Europe rallied, however, as the assets suddenly found favor from haven buyers after sustaining heavy pressure this week from rising concerns about Trump’s tax cuts and the White House’s ballooning debt pile.
“The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network.
He earlier made a separate post announcing that Apple would be hit with 25 per cent tariffs if phones sold in the U.S. were not made within its borders, sending the iPhone maker’s shares down almost 4 per cent in premarket trading.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 1.80 per cent in afternoon trading following Trump’s tariff announcement. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 1.04 per cent, Germany’s DAX fell 2.28 per cent and France’s CAC 40 was down 2.54 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.84 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed down 1.19 per cent.
Commodities
Oil prices dropped by 1 per cent on Friday and were set for their first weekly decline in three weeks.
Brent crude futures fell 64 US cents, or 1 per cent, to US$63.80 a barrel by 8:36 a.m. ET. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 64 US cents, or 1.1 per cent, at US$60.56.
Prices were already down for a fourth consecutive session, pressured by the OPEC+ output expectations, before the tariff news left Brent on track to fall 2.4 per cent on the week and WTI set for a 3 per cent decline.
In other commodities, gold prices rose on Friday and were poised for their biggest weekly gain in more than a month, as a softer U.S. dollar and concerns over the country’s fiscal outlook boosted bullion’s safe-haven appeal.
Spot gold was up 1 per cent at US$3,327.89 an ounce. Bullion has risen 4 per cent this week, its highest since April 7.
Currencies and bonds
The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart.
The day range on the loonie was 72.10 US cents to 72.51 US cents. The Canadian dollar was up about 0.38 per cent against the greenback over the past month.
The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, fell 0.65 per cent to 99.32.
The euro was up 0.36 per cent to US$1.1321 after falling. The British pound was up 0.65 per cent at US$1.3505
In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.474 per cent ahead of the North American opening bell.
Economic news
Japan CPI
8:30 a.m. ET: Canadian retail sales for March. Estimate is a month-over-month gain of 0.7 per cent (or a decline of 0.5 per cent excluding automobiles)
10 a.m. ET: U.S. new home sales for April. Consensus is an annualized rate decline of 4.7 per cent.
With Reuters and The Canadian Press