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.
Celebrating the first 100 days of a US president’s term became significant during FDR’s first term and the major reforms he announced during the Great Depression. Trump marked his 100th day in office on Tuesday with a campaign style speech in Michigan telling the crowd “We’ve just gotten started, you haven’t seen anything yet.” In the markets so far in his second term, the S&P is down nearly 7%, and the dollar has posted its worst performance since November 2022, contracting by -4.6%.
On Tuesday the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published the latest edition of its World Economic Outlook. The IMF said Trump’s tariffs have been a “major negative shock” to the world economy as they slashed their forecasts for growth around the world.
On Wednesday, the Nasdaq fell 3.1% following the news that Nvidia will require licences to export its popular H20 AI chip to China. US officials advised the firm that the licence requirement will “be in effect for the indefinite future.” Nvidia shares tumbled nearly 7% on the day and have fallen further over the Easter weekend.
Trump set out the full details of his ‘reciprocal’ tariffs after the markets shut on Wednesday evening. The response during trading on Thursday and Friday was unequivocal and markets across the globe suffered their steepest decline since the pandemic. On Friday the S&P fell 6%, the FTSE 100 dropped 4.95% and in Japan the Nikkei was down 7.8% when trading closed this morning.
In March 2025, global financial markets were unstable due to economic uncertainty and changing tariff policies, which made investors anxious. The Trump administration’s bold trade plans, especially new tariffs introduced in April, caused significant market changes. This summary looks back at what happened in March and how things have developed by April 2025, including the latest market responses and economic effects.
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