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A drone view shows containers and cargo ships at a port in Wuhu, Anhui province, China, on Feb. 4, 2025.
China Daily | Via Reuters
Asia-Pacific markets fell on Friday, mirroring losses on Wall Street after U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff concessions failed to calm investors.
Traders were also worried by economic data from the U.S., which raised alarm that Trump's policies could hinder the U.S. economy.
The Federal Reserve's Beige Book and the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing reading both indicated fear of rising input costs because of the tariffs.
Data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas released Thursday showed layoff announcements soared to 2020 highs, which the outplacement firm found was driven by Trump and billionaire Elon Musk's efforts to shrink the federal government's workforce.
Over in Asia, traders will look toward China's combined trade data for January and February. China's customs agency releases data for the first two months as a combined figure, to account for the Lunar New Year holidays.
Economists polled by Reuters are expecting exports growth to slow to 5% year-on-year, while imports growth is forecast to hold steady at 1%.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 2.01%, while the broad based Topix was down 1.8%.
South Korea's Kospi was 1.15% lower, with the small-cap Kosdaq seeing a smaller loss of 0.57%.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 started the day down 1.28%.
Futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index stood at 24,085, pointing to a weaker open compared to the HSI's close of 24,369.71.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes fell, with the Nasdaq Composite falling 2.61% to end in correction territory, which is when an index falls 10% from a recent high.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.99%, while the S&P 500 tumbled 1.78%.
— CNBC's Alex Harring and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
Some investors say they are trying to tune out the trade war noise
The flags of Mexico, the United States and Canada fly in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico Feb. 1, 2025.
Jose Luis Gonzalez | Reuters
Certuity chief investment officer Scott Welch said Thursday that investors would be better off taking a break from following the constantly evolving ins-and-outs of the trade war.
"That's what the market's paying attention to right now. In my opinion, everybody should just take their dog for a walk and relax," Welch said.
Globalt Investments senior portfolio manager Thomas Martin similarly is sticking to a patience approach.
"There's just things that are changing so much. If you don't like how things are now, just wait a minute, right? It's like the weather in the mountains. So we're not trying to trade every little thing that's going on," Martin said.
— Jesse Pound
Bitcoin to stay under pressure in the near term, JPMorgan warns
Representations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin are seen in this illustration taken Nov. 25, 2024.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters
JPMorgan doesn't expect a big move higher in crypto in the near future.
Cryptocurrencies including bitcoin rallied to start the week following a social media update by President Trump on the widely expected bitcoin stockpile, which has become a "strategic crypto reserve."
Those gains quickly reversed as part of a broader sell-off on tariff concerns, but there is also lingering skepticism about the crypto reserve now that the market has had some time to digest it.
"Overall we believe that crypto markets are likely to remain under pressure over the near term," JPMorgan's Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said in a note Wednesday.
For more, read our full story here.
— Tanaya Macheel
S&P 500 sees longest period of heightened volatility since 2020, data shows
The S&P 500 has recorded a string of recent volatility that has not been seen in nearly half a decade, according to Bespoke Investment Group.
The broad index is on track to notch its sixth straight session with a move either up or down of at least 1%. A streak of that length has not been seen since November 2020, Bespoke data shows.
The S&P 500
— Alex Harring
English (US)