Tag: Donald Trump

US President Trump’s bark has been worse than his bite, says Nomura on tariff hike

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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In many cases, “US President Donald Trump’s bark is worse than his bite”, says Nomura’s Lewis Alexander on the announcement of a tariff hike on steel and aluminium of over $60 billion on Chinese imports.

Alexander believes that that the recent developments are risky as post announcement, global and Indian markets tumbled.

Commenting on how the trade war will affect India, Citi Private Bank’s Asia Pacific Investment Strategist, Ken Peng, says that since the ‘fiscal risk’ has not been resolved yet, India will also be affected by global sentiment like everyone else would be and concluded this is a buying opportunity.

The tariff hike comes as a measure to ‘penalise’ China after Trump accused China of high-tech thievery, such as stealing the intellectual property of American companies. China, in retaliation, unveiled higher import duties on 128 U.S. goods including steel pipes, wine and fresh fruits.

Peng, explained the gravity of the impact on the markets due to the onset of the trade war. He pointed the exposure to China’ s midcap index, MSCI China, to the U.S. export revenue to be about 3% and the S&P 500 revenue exposure to China is about 4%, concluding it to be ‘a lose-lose situation if this goes down to trade warpath.’

He, however, added that in the near-term, there is a possibility to see a more downward pressure. “This is probably not going to be resolved in a very short manner. So I would expect volatility to be relatively intense in the coming months,” says Peng.

Morgan Stanley’s Economics and Chief Asia Economist Chetan Ahya says that the tariff hike measures “were less aggressive than what the markets feared a few days back.”

Ahya added that there are two sets of trade measures that have been announced.

US, however, has taken back tariff for the European Union, Australia, Brazil and Korea.

“Now with these measures,  there is just $15 worth of steel and aluminium under the tariff hike,” highlighting that there has been a reversal of certain measures which were taken earlier.

Ahya pointed that even though the levying the tariff on Chinese imports is negative, the U.S. administration officials mentioned that they are negotiating with China, making it unclear whether the tariff hike is here to stay.

As of now, Ahya says, “It (the move) is more likely to have a moderate impact on trade and growth and we maintain our view that that global trade and growth will be relatively strong going forward.”

Commenting on the trade war’s impact on India, Ahya says the direct impact of the tariff hike measure is “relatively more moderate or measured.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Rupee falls 8 paise against US dollar in early trade

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The rupee depreciated by 8 paise to 65.19 against the US dollar in early trade today on sharp losses in global equity markets after US President Donald Trump imposed $60 billion of tariffs on Chinese imports.

Trump yesterday directed the US trade representative to level tariffs on about $60 billion worth of Chinese imports after a seven-month investigation into the intellectual property theft, which has been a longstanding point of contention in US-China trade relations.

Yesterday, the rupee had ended 10 paise higher to close at 65.11 against the US currency on foreign fund inflows after the US Federal Reserve stuck to its outlook of three rate hikes this year.

Meanwhile, on a net basis, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 161.11 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) made purchases worth Rs 409.89 crore yesterday, provisional data showed.

The benchmark BSE Sensex cracked below the 33,000-mark by plunging 471.44 points, or 1.42 per cent, to 32,534.83, while the broader NSE Nifty dipped below the 10,000 in opening trade.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Asian shares slump on fears of trade war between US, China

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Asian stock markets slumped Friday after Beijing responded to the Trump administration’s tariff hikes by saying it may slap higher import duties on a range of U.S. goods, ratcheting up fears of a trade war.

KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index plunged 3.8 percent to 20,765.74 and South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 2.3 percent to 2,439.53. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 3.4 percent to 30,001.57 and the Shanghai Composite in mainland China sank 2.9 percent to 3,169.19. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 skidded 1.9 percent to 5,824.50.

TRADE WAR: China unveiled a list of U.S. goods including pork, apples and steel pipe that it may hit with higher import duties in response to President Donald Trump’s tariff hike on steel and aluminum. The Commerce Ministry urged Washington to negotiate a settlement, saying U.S. tariffs undermine the global trading system. Hours earlier, Trump set in motion a new round of sanctions that include tariffs on $48 billion worth of Chinese imports, which he said was in response to theft of American technology. The U.S. Trade Representative identified 1,300 product lines as potential targets, including aerospace, information and communication technology, and machinery, but further details were scant.

ANALYST INSIGHT: “Markets are looking immensely fragile today. Strap in as a tit-for-tat tariff tiff is about to start,” said Stephen Innes, head of Asian trading at OANDA.

WALL STREET: The S&P 500 index skidded 2.5 percent to 2,643.69. The Dow Jones industrial average sank 2.9 percent to 23,957.89. The Nasdaq composite gave up 2.4 percent to 7,166.68.

CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 104.87 yen from 105.28 yen in late trading Thursday. The euro rose to $1.2332 from $1.2302.

ENERGY: Oil futures rallied. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 95 cents to $65.27 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract shed 87 cents, or 1.3 percent, to close at $64.30 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 92 cents to $69.30 a barrel in London.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Trump Organization’s real estate partner accused of fraud

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian Real Estate Development Company that partnered with The Trump Organization for an office tower project in India, is now making headlines. The company is accused of defrauding its foreign investors of at least $147 million.

A criminal complaint was filed in New Delhi last month by two global investment companies named Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and Axon Partners against IREO, accusing the managing director Lalit Goyal, co-founder Anurag Bhargava of “illegally siphoning off money”.

However, both the firms declined to comment.

Donald Trump Jr. called IREO “truly a fantastic group” when the companies announced the project in 2016.

Goyal and Bhargava, U.S. residents founded the IREO group of funds in 2004. The objective was to infuse foreign capital into then relatively untested real ­estate market. It now manages more than $1.6 billion from sovereign wealth and university endowment funds, a portfolio of 1,485 acres in the Delhi area and in the state of Punjab, and 18 million square feet of commercial and residential projects in development.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Commodity Champions: Experts explain the impact of tariff wars

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Despite favorable fundamentals, metals were pulled down thanks to the tariff war by US. It all started with US imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum. The Trump administration imposed 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports.

This unsettled the major exporters like China, Japan, and South Korea. While their industry called for a retaliation, it was detrimental for the metals prices as steel prices went down by 7 percent on a weekly basis while aluminum was down 2 percent this week.

China, the country that produces half of world’s steel said that they will assess the damage caused by the move and will firmly defend their legitimate rights and interests.

However, the NAFTA countries were helped by the exemptions granted to them.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Jonathan Barratt, Economist and CIO at Ayers Alliance and David Lennox, Resource Analyst at Fat Prophets spoke about how the trade war will impact the metals going further.

For full interview, watch accompanying videos…

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Crude price rises on Trump-Kim Jong meeting in May

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Crude prices rose on Friday after U.S. President, Donald Trump and North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un agreed to hold a meeting in May.

The global benchmark for crude, Brent was trading at $63.84 per barrel while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was trading at $60.29 per barrel at 0851 GMT.

The crude prices rose on the speculations of the meeting that would take place at a place and date which will be announced later, the White House said, as reported by Reuters.

The North Korean leader said that it will refrain from any kind of nuclear missile testing till the meeting, South Korea’s national chief said after a meeting between Seoul and Pyongyang.

Despite the rise in the prices, both the benchmarks are on a 1 percent and 1.6 percent weekly decline.

United States has emerged as the largest crude exporting country, surpassing Saudi Arabia with its increased shale production.

“It seems only a matter of time before the U.S. becomes the biggest oil producer in the world. The main question which keeps investors busy is when exactly this will be reached,” Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at Dutch bank ABN Amro, said in a note to investors, as reported by Reuters.

However, the demand for crude will slowdown eventually due to the weather conditions in the Northern Hemisphere and will help in the rise of the crude prices.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow