Since US President Donald Trump announced his sweeping tariff policies on 3rd April, the US stock market indexes have declined sharply, wiping out trillions of dollars of investor money. The deteriorating trade war faces more unpredictability as the tariffs go into effect today, and Trump increased the surcharge on China imports to 104% in response to the mainland's reciprocal tariffs.
The CBOE volatility index (VIX) reached dangerous levels of above 60 this week and remains above 50, signalling extreme fear and panic among investors. Amid the massive sell-off in US equities, hedge fund managers are reshuffling their portfolios to reduce risk exposure stemming from Trump's economic policies.
