U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he walks to board Air Force One to depart Washington from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Feb. 28, 2025.
“Tariffs” may be the most beautiful word in the dictionary for U.S. President Donald Trump, but it is one that stokes fear in investors. Risk-on assets such as stocks and cryptocurrency sank Monday after Trump refused to pardon Canada and Mexico from a hefty 25% duty on all goods imported from both countries.
In the markets, the S&P 500 fell the most since Dec. 18 and is testing its 200-day moving average, generally seen as a support level — meaning that if the index dips below that line, it could fall even further. Bitcoin sank below $90,000, erasing in a flash its 10% gain from Trump’s announcement on Sunday of the creation of a U.S. strategic crypto reserve.
Across the Atlantic, however, European leaders playing defense against Trump’s overtures seem to be boosting the continent’s markets. The regional Stoxx 600 outperformed the S&P 500 for February. And with defense stocks rising, the Stoxx 600 had another leg-up on Monday.
Still, as Trump’s tariff announcement came after European markets closed, they could react badly on Tuesday when the tariffs go into effect officially. Investors should brace themselves for more potential volatility.
Tit-for-tat tariffs
U.S. President Donald Trump said the 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico will be implemented on Tuesday after a monthslong pause. In retaliation, Canada will impose on Tuesday a 25% tariff on 155 billion Canadian dollars ($107 billion) worth of U.S. goods, the country’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday. China also announced Tuesday an additional 15% tariff on U.S. goods, such as agricultural products, and will restrict exports to 15 U.S. companies.
S&P now in the red in 2025
On Monday, the S&P 500 fell 1.76%, its worst day since December, and is now in the red in 2025. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.48% and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 2.64%. Bitcoin slumped 12% to around $82,000 as of early Asia trading. Asia-Pacific stocks dropped Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 retreated around 1.2% and South Korea’s Kospi index index slipped 0.15%. Both benchmarks were weighed down by falls in tech- and chip-related stocks, such as Japan’s Advantest and South Korea’s SK Hynix.
Arrests over Nvidia chips
Singapore authorities detained three people late last week on charges of deliberately misrepresenting the final destination of U.S.-manufactured servers, likely containing Nvidia’s highly sought-after chips, said the country’s Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam on Monday, adding that servers were shipped to Malaysia. On Tuesday, Tengku Zafrul Aziz, Malaysia’s minister for investment, trade and industry, told CNBC that authorities have no information that data center companies operating in Malaysia are “not using the chips that they are supposed to be using.” Shares of Nvidia sank 8.7% Monday.
TSMC’s $100 billion investment in U.S.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing will invest $100 billion in the U.S. to build five new fabrication facilities in Arizona, Trump announced Monday, calling the investment a “tremendous move by the most powerful company in the world.” The new capital brings TSMC’s total investment in the U.S. to $165 billion. Trump has repeatedly called out and accused Taiwan of stealing the U.S. chip manufacturing business.
Trump stops flow of military aid to Ukraine
Trump is halting U.S. military aid to Ukraine, a White House official said Monday. The official, who requested to be unnamed, added that the president is “focused on peace” and the Trump administration is assessing U.S. assistance “to ensure that it is contributing to a solution.” On Friday, Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy degenerated into a shouting match, and the latter left without a deal toward peace.
[PRO] Worries over 200-day moving average
Technical analysts who watch price charts worry that the S&P 500 could soon test its 200-day moving average. The broad-based index’s beating on Monday confirmed how fragile the market setup is at the start of a new month, analysts said. Here’s why that technical level matters to investors.
A packet of antibiotics and various other medicines on a table in a pharmacy.
‘Tariff taskforce’: Pharma firms scramble to prepare even as Trump levies risk flouting WTO rules
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signaled that the European Union may be next to face sweeping 25% tariffs. It came a week after Trump said he was considering a flat charge of around 25% on all pharmaceutical, auto and chip imports. However, according to the WTO’s 1994 Pharma Agreement, most pharmaceutical products and the substances used to produce them are exempt from tariffs, binding them at duty-free levels.
Nonetheless, German healthcare company Fresenius Medical Care says that it has installed its first-ever “tariff taskforce” to manage uncertainty surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed trade charges, with some production likely to be directly impacted Meanwhile, Swiss-American pharmaceutical company Alcon was “paying very close attention” to levies, CEO David Endicott said.
