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US dollar hits three-month low amid rising ‘Trumpcession’ fears, as tariffs kick in – business live | Business
US dollar weakens amid rising ‘Trumpcession’ fears
The US dollar is weakening today, amid growing concerns that Donald Trump’s policies could push America’s economy into a contraction, and possibly a full-blown recession.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of rival currencies, has dropped by 0.44% today, as traders anticipate that a trade war will drive up US inflation and hurt its economy.
Sterling has risen 0.2% to $1.2724 against the dollar, its highest level since 17 December. The euro is up 0.3% at $1.052.
The dollar’s weakness comes as markets now expect the US Federal Reserve to cut interast rates three times this year. In January and February, only one or two cuts were priced in.
Investors are jumpy after a closely watched gauge of the US economy weakened yesterday.
The Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow model now estimates US GDP will shrink at an annualised rate of 2.8% in January-March, the equivalent of a 0.7% quarterly decline in activity. That helped to prompt yesterday’s losses on Wall Street.
That helped to prompt yesterday’s losses on the US stock market, even though the Atlanta Fed GDPNow can be volatile.
Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com, explains:
Wall Street tumbled off the back of the news, while the US Dollar declined as market participants began to contemplate the risks of a US recession. While much of the change is due to mechanical factors in the way GDP is calculated, a deepening trade deficit along with signs of weaker consumer spending and business activity has driven the Atlanta Fed’s GDP Nowcast to -2.8%.
Subsequently, the markets have shifted forward expectations of the next Fed rate cut to June, with May increasingly looking like a “live” meeting.
Talk of a “Trumpcession” has been growing in recent days, after the latest trade data last week showed a surge of imports as businesses tried to avoid new tariffs.
Manufacturing data yesterday showed a slowdown in US factory growth in February, with employment levels and new orders both contracting.
An index of US consumer confidence hit an eight-month low last month, while US retail sales dropped by the most in nearly two years in January.
A CBS News poll released on Sunday showed that 49% of Americans disapprove of president Trump’s handling of the economy.
Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, says talk of a ‘self-inflicted “Trumpcession.”’ is on the rise:
Already queasy from a fading AI-driven rally, Wall Street is now staring down a worsening cocktail of Trump’s tariff fury, stretched equity valuations, and the cold, hard realization that the U.S. economy may be losing steam. Meanwhile, across the pond, Europe—long the ugly duckling of global markets—is suddenly the belle of the ball.
While America grapples with an economic hangover, European stocks are ripping higher, fueled by a mix of bargain-hunting, fiscal policy shifts, and the tantalizing prospect of a peace deal in Ukraine. The euro and bond yields are climbing, while the dollar and Treasuries slump—proof that global capital is rebalancing. Defence and infrastructure spending is setting the tone for a European revival, while Washington is left debating whether it’s about to stumble into a self-inflicted “Trumpcession.”
A recession, though, would mean two quarterly contactions in GDP in a row – which Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics, doesn’t see happening.
He wrote last week:
Following the 0.5% m/m slump in real consumption in January and the massive 10% m/m surge in real goods imports, we now expect first-quarter GDP to contract by 1.0% annualised. Assuming that surge in imports reflects the front-running of tariffs, however, it should be more than reversed in the second quarter, when we expect GDP to rebound by 4.5% annualised.
The upshot is that a “Trumpcession” should be avoided and there is no need for the Fed to cut interest rates.
Key events
Bessent: Chinese manufacturers will eat the tariffs
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has claimed that Chinese manufacturers will swallow the US tariffs that were imposed overnight.
Speaking to Fox News, Bessent declared:
“China’s business model is export, export, export, and that’s unacceptable. I am highly confident that the Chinese manufacturers will eat the tariffs, prices won’t go up.
[It is not clear that this will happen, though. The argument is that a Chinese exporter would cut their sale price by around 10%, so that the price paid by an American customer wouldn’t change. But they might not want to suffer that financial hit, or even be able to…
Bessent also suggested that the US was in the “middle of a transition” regarding tariffs on Canada and Mexico.
Dollar at three-month low
The pound is continuing to climb against the US dollar, and is now up half a cent at $1.2746, its strongest level since mid-December.
The dollar index, which tracks the currency against six peers, is trading at a three-month low too, down 0.75% today.
China says it has filed additional complaints with WTO against U.S. tariffs
China says it had raised additional complaints with the World Trade Organization after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed extra duties on Chinese goods.
In a statement emailed to journalists, China’s mission to the WTO in Geneva says:
“China has raised WTO complaints against the United States’ newly imposed tariff measures.”
Wall Street is on track to open lower when trading begins in two hours time:
US STOCK INDEX FUTURES MOVE LOWER || S&P 500, NASDAQ FUTURES DOWN 0.3% EACH; DOW FUTURES DOWN 0.2%
— First Squawk (@FirstSquawk) March 4, 2025
Euro hits 2025 high
The weakness of the US dollar today has pushed the euro up to its highest level this year.
The single currency has gained 0.5% to $1.0543, its highest level since 10 December 2024.
Eutelsat’s value has tripled this week (and it’s only Tuesday lunchtime)
Shares in French satellite operator Eutelsat have surged on speculation that its OneWen system could replace Elon Musk’s Starlink in Ukraine.the country.
Eutelsat’s stock has surged 80% this morning, following a 68% jump yesterday, meaning it has tripled in value so far this week!
The FT reports that Eutelsat said today it was “actively collaborating with European institutions and business partners” about providing additional satellite connectivity in Ukraine.
There are fears that Starlink’s service in Ukraine could be under threat after the US suspended military aid to Kyiv on Monday.
French Eutelsat $ETL soars as investors bet on OneWeb satellites as European option to Starlink. Meanwhile #Tesla‘s EV sales in China dropped 49.2% y/y in February. ($TSLA -1.7% in premarket) pic.twitter.com/l8YMLTxjX0
— Ole S Hansen (@Ole_S_Hansen) March 4, 2025
OneWeb was a British satellite company, which merged with Eutelsat in 2022.
European carmakers hit by tariff worries
Germany’s stock market is being hit hard by trade war fears today.
The DAX index has fallen by over 2%, with its auto industry suffering badly.
Tiremaker Continental are the top DAX faller, down almost 9%, with Daimler Truck (-6.66%), BMW (-5.5%) and Mercedes-Benz (-4.5%) also weaker.
The pan-European Stoxx Autos index is down 4.3%, on track for its biggest fall since September 2022.
China to launch anti-circumvention probe into related US fiber optic products
China has widened its retaliation to the new US tariffs, by launching an investigation into US fiber optic products.
China ministry of commerce said it will investigate US producers of a type of optical fibre for potentially circumventing anti-dumping measures.
Tabloid newspaper Global Times has the details:
The ministry said in a notice that it has learned that relevant fiber optic products are suspected of circumventing China’s anti-dumping measures, and it initiated the probe at the request of domestic industries. Based on the investigation’s findings, a decision will be made on whether to impose anti-circumvention measures against the US, the notice said.
China has also suspended the import licences of three U.S. exporters, and halted China-bound shipments of U.S. lumber, Reuters reports.
Some economists are warning that the US could suffer a period of ‘stagflation’ – where prices rise but the economy stagnates.
Mathieu Savary, BCA Research’s chief european strategist, says this is a reason to favour European assets, telling clients:
“Europe is escaping its liquidity trap, its animal spirits are coming out of hibernation, and European investors are increasingly willing to buy European risky assets.”
“The US economy looks increasingly stuck in a mini-stagflation episode that will hurt global assets. However, Europe’s exit from the liquidity trap means that periods of weakness in European assets are to be bought, not sold, because Europe will come out roaring of this period of uncertainty.”
Mohamed El-Erian, advisor to Allianz and president of Queens’ College, Cambridge, saw stagflation risks in yesterday’s US manufacturing data, which reported lower growth and rising prices:
The whiff of stagflation risk continues to loom, as indicated by today’s ISM Manufacturing Survey data.
The overall index dipped to 50.3, barely above the threshold that indicates contraction, due to shrinking new orders and employment indices, which fell to 48.6 and 47.6,…— Mohamed A. El-Erian (@elerianm) March 3, 2025
Short-term US government borrowing costs have hit their lowest level since last October, as investors anticipate several interest rate cuts this year.
The yield, or interest rate, on two-year Treasury bills has dropped to 3.929% this morning, down 5 basis points from last night’s 3.98%.
Yields fall when bond prices rise, so this reflects increased demand for safe-haven US debt, as well as repriced interest rate expectations.
TWO-YEAR US TREASURY YIELD US2YT=RR FALLS TO 3.8960%, LOWEST SINCE OCTOBER 4
— PiQ (@PiQSuite) March 4, 2025
UK chancellor Rachel Reeves to call for major shake-up of defence procurement rules
Heather Stewart
Rachel Reeves will say she wants to speed up defence procurement and ensure the UK’s small and medium-sized businesses can benefit, when she addresses manufacturers this afternoon.
The chancellor has already pledged to ramp up defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, paid for by slashing the aid budget, and to rewrite the rules of Labour’s National Wealth Fund so that it can invest in defence.
But with the US tearing up the transatlantic alliance, 2.5% of GDP is only expected to be a staging post, our economics editor Heather Stewart reports.
In a “fireside chat” this afternoon at manufacturing trade body Make UK’s annual conference, Reeves will promise to cut red tape that slows down defence procurement, and open up more contracts to smaller firms.
She is expected to say,
“For too long politicians of all stripes have ducked and dodged the decisions need to fire up Britain’s industrial base and unleash its potential to keep the country safe.
We’re changing that by increasing defence spending and making defence a cornerstone of our industrial strategy to create jobs, drive growth and meet emerging global threats head on.”
Defence was already earmarked as one of the industries to be backed by the government’s industrial strategy – expected to be published around the time of the spending review, in June.
But the escalating demands for spending will raise questions about how other sectors expecting to receive government support are now likely to fare. The Ministry of Defence is notorious in Whitehall for delivering projects late, and drastically over budget.
Could Doge cuts push US into recession? Not if they change the maths!
It’s possible that the spending cuts being pushed by billionaire businessman Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) could push the US economy into a downturn.
Musk had suggested he could cut $2 trillion from federal spending, which would be almost a third of the $6.75 trillion spent by the US government in the 2024 fiscal year, or 23% of US GDP that year.
As government spending is tied up with consumer and business spending, such reductions would have a significant impact on the economy (as Y = C + I + G + NX, see below*.)
BUT, the US government may tamper with this way of calculating GDP.
Howard Lutnick, the US commerce secretary, said on Sunday that government spending could be separated from gross domestic product reports.
Lutnick told Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures:
“You know that governments historically have messed with GDP.
They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.”
* – this Keynesian cross model states that aggregate output = consumer expenditure, plus investment, plus government spending, plus net trade (exports minus imports).
German minister: EU won’t be pushed around by Trump
European countries are wondering if they will be next to be hit by US tariffs.
Germany’s economy minister has said today that Europe will respond in a united and resolute way if US president Donald Trump were to impose tariffs on EU products – something he threatened to do last week.
Robert Habeck says in a statement:
“Germany supports the EU Commission’s approach of working with the U.S. government to find a negotiated solution. But the EU will not be pushed around. If President Trump imposes the announced tariffs on EU products, we will react with unity and self-confidence.”
Article by:Source: Graeme Wearden