Donald Trump's China threats deal fresh blow to stocks

US stocks fell after President Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on Beijing over the coronavirus crisis, while business warnings from Amazon and big oil firms highlighted the pain inflicted by global lockdowns.

Mr Trump’s threat brought attention back to the trade war between the world’s two largest economies that has kept global financial markets on tenterhooks for nearly two years.

“It will not be easy to repair corporate carnage after this perfect storm,” said Peter Cecchini, chief market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald.

Apple shares dipped after CEO Tim Cook said it was impossible to forecast overall results for the current quarter because of uncertainty created by the virus.

US manufacturing activity plunged to an 11-year low in April, supporting analysts’ views the economy was sinking deeper into recession.

With most of European markets closed for the May 1 holiday, the full effect of Mr Trump’s threat will not be felt until next week, but it stands to derail the recent rally that led the benchmark Stoxx-600 to post its best month in April since 2015.

“Stocks are starting to looking a little heavy, and that’s why you’re seeing a lot of caution as we head into the end of this week and begin the month of May,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Group.

If you’re looking into May and the rest of Q2, you will start to see a lot more bad data.

-Reuters