Trump tariff: Wall Street drops 4% despite pause on US levies

Amazon CEO Jassy said that in view of the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, the company has "done some strategic forward inventory buys".

Jassy told CNBC that Amazon haas been "seeing significant growth on discretionary items, not seeing meaningful impact from all the noise around tariffs".

Oil prices retreated by more than 2 per cent on Thursday as fears of an escalating US-China trade war and worries of a possible recession eclipsed earlier created by president Donald Trump's 90-day pause on tariffs.

Brent futures fell $1.77, or 2.7%, to $63.71 a barrel by 1213 GMT. While U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped $1.77, or 2.84%, to $60.58.

The dollar fell across the board on Thursday, losing ground particularly against safe havens, as traders tried to assess where they stood after Trump's announcement pausing his tariffs for his 90-days.

Defending US president Donald Trump amid the rising ire against him over the reciprocal tariffs, his economic adviser Kevin Hassett has said that Trump "never had any other intent than getting people to the table".

Upon being asked whether Trump was trying to control the markets, Hassett said that the US president "believes in future of America".

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told Fox News that the US has received offers from 15 countries amid the ongoing trade war and Donald Trump's 90-day pause on his reciprocal tariffs.

He told reporters to expect a lot of movement with world leaders in the next three to four weeks.

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told Fox News that he will present list of deal priorities to President Donald Trump on Thursday.

Ahead of auction, the US 30-year treasury yields have risen to 4.746 per cent from the early 4.662 per cent.

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNBC during an interview that the revenue from Donald Trump's tariffs are expected to "help reduce deficit and help bond markets".

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett has told CNBC in an interview that amid the escalating trade war between the US and China, "conversations" on Beijing have not yet begun.

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett has said that the US has set a process for tariff deals so that they can be orderly.

He told CNBC that the deal schedule is "very doable".

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett has reportedly told CNBC that "there's a big inventory of deals that are right close to the finish line".

He admitted that though the tariff decision might have been influenced by the bond market, it did not cause any panic move.

The US stock index futures fell on Thursday after a sharp rally in the previous session following president Donald Trump's move to halt his reciprocal tariffs for 90 days for most nations, except China.

The U-turn came less than 24 hours after the new tariffs took effect on most of US' trading partners, lifting the S&P 500 to its biggest single-day rally since 2008. The Nasdaq posted its biggest one-day jump since 2001.

"The trade war is now turning into a direct confrontation between the U.S. and China...," Rabobank analysts said, adding that, "We could again be seeing escalation and de-escalation at the same time, pulling markets in different directions."

According to Reuters, China's onshore Yuan has strengthened, while the Dollar/CNY has fallen to session low of 7.299

The Chinese Film Administration on Thursday said that it would "moderately reduce" the number of US films imported into the country, as tensions between the world's two largest economies escalates.

"The wrong action of the US government's indiscriminate tariffs on China is bound to further reduce the favourable impression of domestic audiences on American films... We will follow the law of the market, respect the choice of the audience, and moderately reduce the number of US films imported," a statement from the film administration was cited by AFP.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said that the EU is putting on hold its counter-tariffs on the United States for 90 days.

The development came after US president Donald Trump announced a 90-day halt on his sweeping global tariffs for most nations.

The European Union had told the United States that "we are ready to make deals, lets talk".

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that if negotiations with the US over the tariff deal are not satisfactory, then "our countermeasures will kick in".

She said that preparatory work for further countermeasures are underway, adding that "all options remain on the table".

US senator calls for insider trading probe into President Donald Trump over his 90-day tariff pause. California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff took to X and said, "Who in the administration knew about Trump's latest tariff flip flop ahead of time? Did anyone buy or sell stocks, and profit at the public's expense?"

"I'm writing to the White House -- the public has a right to know," he added.

Democratic members of the House Financial Services Committee wrote on X that "the President of the United States is literally engaging in the world's biggest market manipulation scheme."

The accusations came as Trump posted a few minutes after Wall Street opened that "IT'S TIME TO BUY".

Canada's prime minister Mark Carney on Thursday described Donald Trump's 90-day pause on global tariffs as a "welcome reprieve" and said that Ottawa will begin negotiations with Washington on a new economic deal after its elections.

Carney took to social media platform X and called it a "welcome reprieve for the global economy". He further added that Canada and the US will "commence negotiations on a new economic and security relationship immediately following the Federal election" on April 28.

Even though US stocks rebounded on Thursday after Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on his reciprocal tariffs, and the S&P 500 jumped, there are chances that the index will end the year with a gain remain slim, a Bloomberg report said.

In the 16 times the US stock benchmark has dropped 15% or more at any point in a year, like it had before the rally, the S&P 500 has only recovered to end the 12-month period positive on three occasions, the report cited data compiled by Ryan Detrick at Carson Group LLC.

The UK markets also began to rebound after US President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause in his sweeping tariffs, though ministers insisted they would remain cautious for any kind of instability.

The FTSE 100 rose by more than 6% after stock markets opened in London on Thursday.

Global markets on Thursday also rose to gains after the US stocks soared amid the 90-day pause on Trump tariffs. Japan's benchmark jumped more than 9 per cent as investors welcomed US President Donald Trump's decision to halt his tariffs.

In early trading Germany's DAX initially gained 5.6% to 20,776.76, while France's CAC 40 in Paris gained 5.4% to 7,235.21. Britain's FTSE 100 surged 4.0% to 7,983.37.

In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 9.1% to finish at 34,609.00, zooming upward as soon as trading began.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 soared 4.5% to 7,709.60. South Korea’s Kospi gained 6.6% to 2,445.06. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 2.1% to 20,681.78. The Shanghai Composite rose 1.2% to 3,223.64.

Japan will continue to urge the United States to rethink its tariff plans in hopes of winning a longer-term reprieve even after Donald Trump put a 90-day pause on the levies for most nations.

“We understand that the tariffs on aluminum, steel and automobiles remain in place, and our position is unchanged,” said Ryosei Akazawa, who this week was appointed the country's top negotiator on the US levies.

“We continue to express our strong concerns and strongly request that they be reviewed," Akazawa added.

Vietnam and the US have agreed to start negotiations on a "reciprocal" trade deal, a breakthrough achieved after Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on his tariffs for most nations.

Deputy prime minister Ho Duc Phoc said Vietnam wants to maintain stable economic and trade relations with the US "for the benefit of businesses and people of the two countries". His statement came after the meeting with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington.

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez said that Donald Trump's decision to impose a 90-day pause on his global tariffs can open a "door to negotiation" and therefore result in an agreement.

Sanchez said that his country considers the tariffs decision as "unjustified, unjust and harmful for everybody'.