Trump’s tariffs are rattling Australian markets. Here’s what not to do to protect your investments

Global share markets, including in Australia, have recorded large swings ever since Donald Trump released his “liberation day” tariff plans.Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 witnessed its steepest one-day fall on Monday in five years, before registering its biggest one-day rise in two years on Tuesday. It then fell sharply on Wednesday, before rebounding strongly on Thursday, to around last week’s levels.If you are anxious about the volatile market and the affect it’s having on your investment or retirement portfolio, here are some common human reactions that need to be managed to avoid making a volatile situation worse.Investors are grappling with a fundamental question about whether the market ruptures are a temporary setback or a structural shift, which means shares need to be completely repriced

US egg prices break record high for third consecutive month even as inflation drops

The price of eggs continues to soar for American consumers, rising by almost 6% in March even as overall inflation fell slightly.Breaking a record high for the third consecutive month, the average cost of a dozen large eggs hit $6.23 in March – more than double the price just 12 months earlier, according to new figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday. This surpassed the previous record highs of $5.90 a dozen in February, and $4

EY fined almost £5m for breaching standards in Thomas Cook audit

EY has been fined almost £5m for “serious breaches of standards” over its audits of Thomas Cook in the years before the travel company’s devastating collapse in 2019.The UK’s audit watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), said EY and one of its partners, Richard Wilson, had admitted to failings related to their assessment of the travel agent’s financial statements from 2017 and 2018.Thomas Cook, the world’s oldest travel company, collapsed in 2019 after it failed to finalise a restructuring plan that would help it cope with a £1.7bn debt burden.The company’s failure put 9,000 jobs at risk and triggered a huge repatriation effort to bring home 150,000 UK holidaymakers stranded overseas

China says Trump’s trade war ‘will end in failure’ as Beijing tariffs take effect

China says Donald Trump’s trade war with Beijing “will end in failure” for Washington, hours after the US president announced he would increase his tariffs on the country’s imports to 125%.China’s own 84% retaliatory tariffs on US imports came into effect on Thursday amid an escalating trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.Beijing’s tariffs are the latest salvo against Trump, who on Wednesday announced a pause to his steepest tariffs on dozens of countries, capping them at 10% for 90 days, but excluding China from the U-turn after it refused to withdraw its retaliatory measures.On Thursday, China’s foreign ministry said Beijing was not interested in a fight “but will not fear if the United States continues its tariff threats.“The US cause doesn’t win the support of the people and will end in failure,” a ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, said at a regular press conference

Tesco to cut further £500m in costs to help offset Reeves’s tax rises

Tesco has said it plans to slash a further £500m in costs, as the supermarket chain tries to cushion the blow of Rachel Reeves’s tax increases and invest in fighting a price war with rivals.Britain’s biggest grocery retailer said on Thursday it was deepening an existing drive to cut costs to help offset higher operating costs, as well as the £235m increase in its national insurance contributions (NICs) as a result of changes made by the chancellor.The retailer made the cost cuts announcement as it reported a fall in annual profits, and said profits would be lower this year as a fight for shoppers with rivals intensifies. The update sent shares falling sharply, despite a rise in the wider FTSE 100 in response to Donald Trump’s tariff U-turn.Tesco was among retailers to have warned that the rise in employer NICs – announced in Reeves’s autumn budget – would lead to job cuts and higher prices

Australian stock market surges but investors warned ‘we’re not out of the woods just yet’

Donald Trump’s decision to pause steep tariffs against most nations has ignited a share market rally that erased some of the heavy losses suffered over the past week, even as Australia eyes an escalating trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.Wall Street soared overnight after Trump unveiled a 90-day pause on tariffs above 10% on dozens of countries, with the notable exception of China.Australia’s position, along with those of the UK and New Zealand, are unchanged given they remain subject to the US’ “baseline” 10% tariff.The S&P/ASX 200 closed up 4.5% on Thursday, at 7,709 points, after giving away some of its early gains