(BFM Stock Exchange) – The New York Stock Exchange is down sharply in the first exchanges of this Friday, April 4, while China in turn retaliated with customs duties announced Wednesday by Donald Trump.

Wall Street is still heading for a difficult new day, in the aftermath of the worst session for the American clues since 2020. In the first exchanges this Friday, April 4, afternoon, the major indices of the New York square suffer. The Dow Jones drops 2.5% and the S&P 500 also restores 2.5%, when the Nasdaq folds 3%.

The tension is still rising from a notch while China has announced customs duties of 34% on goods imported from the United States, which are added to the 20% already announced in March. This commercial retaliation measure will be effective from April 10.

Companies strongly exposed to China are still down this Friday, including Apple, which manufactures most of its products in the Middle Kingdom and which still loses 3% in the first exchanges.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones had dropped almost 4%, the Nasdaq index had abandoned almost 6%, its worst session since March 2020. The S&P 500 index has rendered 4.8%, its worst closing score since June 2020. According to Reuters, $ 2.400 billion in capitalization left in smoke during this black Thursday.

“The initial reaction of the price market for pricing announcements has been clear. With a fall in stock prices around the world and a drop in yields of state bonds, a scenario has clearly been drawn where fears of a brutal economic slowdown took over the inflation fears,” explains Vincenzo Vedda, Chief Investment Officer at DWS.

A superhero?

The operators reacted to the last monthly report on American private employment. In March, the US economy created more jobs than expected with 228,000 positions while consensus awaited much less, or 140,000 positions. On the other hand, the unemployment rate increased to 4.2% while it was expected stable at 4.1% of the active population.

“The Mars Employment Report is not bad but it is difficult to reconcile with other statistics and it may already offer a somewhat deciduous labor market photo given recent events,” analyzes Bastien Drut, head of strategy and economic studies at CPram.

“Customs rights increases decided by Donald Trump, if they remain in place, should involve a significant degradation of the labor market over time,” he continues.

It is therefore in this extreme climate of risk aversion to the president of the American federal reserve, Jerome Powell will speak this Friday. It will give precious indications on the health of the American economy and the trajectory of interest rates.

“All the good Hollywood bestsellers need a superhero. And frankly, the same goes for the financial markets after the week they have just spent. Will the Fed come to the rescue and how long do customs duties last?” Asks Ing James Smith.