Welcome to this week’s edition of top stock market highlights.
Trump is at it again with his tariff threats.
The US President previously initiated a 90-day pause on his raft of reciprocal tariffs as the US began negotiations with countries on trade agreements.
With this window expiring, Trump has fired his latest salvo by issuing letters to a host of Asian nations.
These letters laid out the consequences of not hammering out a trade deal by 1 August.
Both South Korea and Japan will suffer 25% tariffs by 1 August, while other countries such as Indonesia and Thailand saw higher tariffs of 32% and 36%, respectively.
Malaysia was not spared either, as it was slapped with a 25% tariff if it did not reach an agreement by the deadline.
The rates for Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia were 40%, 40%, and 36%, respectively.
Singapore, India, and Taiwan were spared and did not receive any letters from the White House on reciprocal tariffs; thus, they will have to pay the base rate of 10%.
Asia’s businesses are bracing for tougher times as supply chains are ready to cope with cost increases, and as governments in these countries scramble to seal a deal with Trump before the deadline.
These rates were just the beginning, though.
A new round of tariffs was announced soon after, with Brazil suffering the highest tariff rate of 50%.
Other countries such as Sri Lanka, Brunei, and the Philippines saw tariff rates of 30%, 25%, and 20%, respectively.
The case of Brazil is strange as it runs a trade deficit with the US and is one of the US’s 20 top trading partners.
Trump reiterated that these rates are based on “common sense”, deficits, raw numbers, and history.
According to the US President, he refused to budge on the 1 August deadline, saying that no extensions will be granted on country-specific tariffs.
However, even if the tariffs do take effect as planned, negotiations between the US and other countries can continue, implying that rates could eventually come down from these lofty levels.
Nvidia became the first company in history to achieve a market capitalisation of US$4 trillion.
The chip designer and manufacturer of the graphics processing unit (GPU) saw its shares rise as much as 2.8% intraday to an all-time high of US$164.42.
It closed at US$162.88, just shy of the US$4 trillion mark.
Investors are betting on a continued surge in demand for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that will power Nvidia’s top and bottom lines.
The company’s high-performance chips and GPUs form the backbone of this AI revolution and are purchased by many technology titans such as Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META).
