Blog

There’s no denying that global markets are facing considerable uncertainty at the moment. Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ on 2 April sent shockwaves across the world, and although ongoing negotiations have brought some relief, at the time of writing, the universal 10% tariff on imports to the US remains in place, along with additional country- and sector-specific measures.

In general, tariffs aren’t good for markets…

It is fair to say, over the last few years, the UK stock market has not been seen as that attractive or compelling for numerous reasons. But recently, we have seen a very definite uptick in interest in UK property assets…

US stocks posted strong gains last week following the news that the US and China had agreed to lower tariffs and put a 90-day pause on their trade war. The agreement means US tariffs on Chinese goods will come down from 145% to 30%, and China’s levies on US imports will go down from 125% to 30% while further negotiations take place. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also pledged to invest $600bn in the US. Details of most of the specific commitments are vague, but $142bn is set aside for arms, $20bn for AI data centres and $14.2bn for energy equipment and gas turbines. This news, combined with the tariff pause, has seen most American markets recover from their “Liberation Day” induced losses.

But it wasn’t all good news…

April certainly wasn’t short on market volatility as investors grappled with Trump’s erratic trade policies. It now feels like a lifetime ago since Trump announced his “reciprocal” tariffs during April 2nd’s “liberation day”. They triggered sharp market declines and a major spike in volatility across asset classes. Market sentiment improved after Trump announced he would pause tariffs for 90-days (initially except for China)…

Late on Wednesday evening, Trump took to Truth Social to tease the news of a “trade deal” between the US and a “big and highly respected country.” By the time he kicked off his press conference at 10am, we knew the country in question was the UK.

With Congress needed to approve any major trade deal, the announcement is more of an agreement to reserve or cut some of the tariffs that Trump has imposed on certain goods.

It has been an eventful and often volatile start to the year for global markets. The first quarter of 2025 saw significant drawdowns, but this was nothing in comparison to what markets endured from April 2nd and the trading days that followed, largely driven by the economic policies of the US and Donald Trump.