Closing post
Time to wrap up…
Global markets have been rattled by a weak US jobs report which suggests Donald Trump’s trade wars have hurt America’s labor market.
The latest Non-Farm Payroll report showed that the US economy added 73,000 jobs in July, far lower than expected, as the unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from 4.1% in June.
The Bureau of Labor also slashed the number of jobs added in recent months. May’s jobs figure was revised down by 125,000, from 144,000 to 19,000, and June was revised down by 133,000, from 147,000 to 14,000 – a combined 258,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.
Here’s the full story:
The weak jobs report rocked Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average is down 496 points, or 1.1%, at 43,634 points.
US bond yields also fell sharply, as traders raised their bets on cuts to US interest rates this year.
Donald Trump repeated his demand for lower borrowing costs, claiming that Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell was “a stubborn MORON” for not acting faster.
Stocks have fallen in London, and across Europe.
Investors were already anxious, after Trump announced new tariffs on dozens of US trading partners.
Last night, as the latest deadline to reach deals approached, the US president signed an executive order imposing tariffs ranging from 10% to 41%.
Rates were set at 25% for India, 20% for Taiwan and 30% for South Africa ahead of Trump’s self-imposed deadline of 1 August for striking trade deals with countries worldwide.
Trump also extended the deadline for a tariff agreement with Mexico by another 90 days.
Our US Politics liveblog has full reaction to the jobs report, and the trade war:
There’s been a heavy sell-off across European markets too, amid trade war fears and jitters about the US economy.
Germany’s DAX was down around 2.5% as trading ended, with the situation in Paris even worse – France’s CAC 40 has shed 2.85%.
Italy’s FTSE MIB lost 2.55%.
Updated
