UK and European stocks are expected to extend their losses on Friday morning after tariff concerns shook the global financial markets.
Asian markets have begun Friday with further declines after heavy losses across the world’s key financial markets.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was down 1.5% and Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2.4%, adding to losses in the previous session, as traders continued to digest the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.
It comes after Trump’s “liberation day” announcement on Wednesday, in which he hit countries with a wave of tariffs.
The FTSE 100 fell to a three-month low in Thursday’s trading after the news that British exports to the US would face a blanket 10% tariff.
Meanwhile, in the US, the Dow Jones and S&P indexes both suffered their worst days since 2020.
It came as analysts at Barclays said there was a “high risk that the US economy enters a recession this year”.
Setting off to attend a golf tournament in Florida on Thursday, Trump told reporters he thought things were going “very well”, adding: “The markets are going to boom.”
As a result, market analysts have pointed towards another, slightly shallower drop in the FTSE 100 after markets open on Friday.
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