Massive day in global markets overnight.
In Europe the FTSE fell 231 points (2.92%), the DAX fell 609 points (3.00%) and the CAC fell 237 points (3.34%).
Europe imposed a 25% tariff on targeted US imports.
UK believes that 10% tariffs from the US will be permanent.
China imposed an 84 % tariff on US goods and indicated it may stop exports of critical materials to the US.
Then everything changed. Trump hade a huge backdown on US tariffs and announced a 90 day pause in all tariffs except for China - which he increased tariffs to 125%. All other tariffs would be reduced to the base level of 10%. No doubt he would have been advised of the damage being done to the US economy by his tariff policy and it was a humiliating reversal of Trumps tariff policies. Trump would also have been sensitive to market reactions to the tariff policy.
US Tariffs were mainly aimed at China so maybe this is where the US is happy to sit at the moment.
Trump made an incendiary comment that 75 nations had come to "kiss my ass" at a Republican function.
US Markets went from almost 1% down at the opening but exploded with the announcement of a 90 day pause in tariffs. the rises were quite impressive.
The DOW rose 2,962 points (7.87%), the NBI rose 196 points (5.27%), the NASDAQ Composite rose 1857 points (12.16%) and the Russell small cap index rose 152 point (8.66%).
Reports that ships are dumping containers of Chines goods into the ocean as they can't be sold in the US.
Chines leader Xi Jingping popularity in China has risen due to the trade war with the US. He was being blamed for the Chinese economic slowdown but now the US is being blamed.
US Treasury 10 year bond yield has risen to 4.389%
Oil prices dropped but did recover some ground after the tariff announcement - Brent crude is at $US 60.89 per barrel.
Gold price i up to US$3,092 per oz.
BITCOIN rose to US$82,335.
(20min delay)