Trump has form for announcing contentious moves after markets close Friday afternoons, presumably to allow time for considered actions when markets open on Monday mornings. This weekend Trump did it after Thursday with Friday being a holiday.
Whilst markets are closed, futures contracts for DOW, S&P, Nas and Russell are trading, and all are down about 0.5% (>200 points on DOW) because he looks to be escalating tariffs tensions again.
He is announcing that his Admin will likely begin mailing out tariffs letters to 10 countries a day starting Friday in the US at levels likely well above the universal 10%. Progress over 90 days has been limited to frameworks for the UK and Vietnam, with details unknown.
That I have heard of, Korea wants a better deal than Vietnam got and he has castigated Japan for being difficult to negotiate with.
My hope is that countries of substance and trade clout call Trump’s bluff … the pain and reaction in the US could be prompt imo.
