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Punters react to the tariff announcements – politicalbetting.com

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  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 24,169
    edited April 7
    scampi25 said:

    scampi25 said:

    FTSE now down 4.5% Dax 7% - less bad than Asia - maybe stabilising. Could be worse....

    It will be! Another 10-15% to come in my mind.
    Not sure. Got to be people with cash looking at the cheap prices ..
    Market crashes overshoot and then bounce back fairly quickly. My best guess would be the Dow bottoms out around 30-33k and ends the year around 40k. Buying now for long term is not terrible imo, but is really bad if any chance of getting spooked and selling in next few weeks.
  • nico67nico67 Posts: 5,031
    I suspect tomorrow will see a relief from the market panic and then it’s down to what happens with China on Thursday .

    I’m not convinced those tariffs have been priced in yet as there might be some thinking there will be some last minute agreement.
  • FlatlanderFlatlander Posts: 4,895

    malcolmg said:

    Eabhal said:

    I still haven't looked at my ISA :)

    Best not to, it is not pretty
    Some of us have just retired. I think I'm down by my last 2 years salary.

    I should know better by now but I'm surprised quite how sheep like the reaction has been. He's been saying he's going to do this for months.
    He says lots of things. Some he does, some he doesnt do. Some he reverses after he does them, others he doubles down.
    Well, true, but he's been big on tariffs for decades.

    Last time there were people who could stop him doing bonkers things but this time we've already seen plenty of evidence that there's absolutely no filter.

    If we built a beautiful wall around the US and cut it off, how much smaller would be the world economy be? Surely that must be the rough limit for this crash, albeit with a bit of overshoot.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,359
    Nigelb said:

    The US/EU trade deal might be a bit if a stretch...

    Trump calls for Europe to pay reparations to the US: "We put a big tariff on Europe. They are coming to the table. They want to talk, but there's no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis number one for present but also for past."
    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1909034677727272997

    Top trolling.

    I’m guessing this is one set of reparations the reparations loons on the left won’t be in favour of.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 24,169

    If Len Deighton had written a novel about a Soviet asset who was elected President of the USA and subsequently crashed the West to allow a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, no one would have read such ridiculous nonsense.

    Everyone would have stopped reading at the point where a former stock broker from Dulwich assisted by an old Etonian Foreign Secretary who dresses like a clown and attends KGB run parties in Italy, engineers Britain out of the World 's largest friction free trade organisation.

    Where on earth is 007?
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 24,169
    edited April 7
    Scott_xP said:

    algarkirk said:

    Just noting a particular USA court case, Garcia, which in some ways bodes even worse than the tariffs, and is quickly ongoing. It has had rather subdued coverage in the UK.

    1) Garcia, not a USA national, lives in USA and a court order is in force forbidding his removal.

    2) He has been captured and sent to an El Salvador prison with no process or rights

    3) The USA government agrees it was a mistake and they have acted illegally

    4) A judge has ordered his return to the USA by the end of today

    5) The USA government has said "Can't, won't".

    It is being followed in detail by Brian Tyler Cohen. The latest:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOTgWhdkSZk

    Overnight Trump said he wants to send US citizens as well
    Maybe they should start with that rare breed of criminal who covers each of rape, fraud and insurrection?
  • eekeek Posts: 29,653

    Scott_xP said:

    @JoeBLynam

    Banks really being hit in this Monday morning sell off: Bank of Ireland down 6.6%, AIB down 5.8%. Natwest down 8.6%. Hsbc down 5.5%

    I am regretting being the Head of Regulatory Affairs of a bank and wider financial services institution.

    ***Reviews capital adequacy requirements***
    Start on the basis that you are likely to breach those requirements and go from there..
  • eekeek Posts: 29,653
    malcolmg said:

    malcolmg said:

    Eabhal said:

    I still haven't looked at my ISA :)

    Best not to, it is not pretty
    Some of us have just retired. I think I'm down by my last 2 years salary.

    I should know better by now but I'm surprised quite how sheep like the reaction has been. He's been saying he's going to do this for months.
    I feel for you anyone retired last year or two and in shares will have lost for sure. I am still working but losing a shedload is still not helpful for sure.
    Got to say I'm factoring in another year of (part time by then) working.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,979
    @nfergus

    “The president stands as much chance of reindustrializing the U.S. as you do of getting your frozen laptop to work by smashing the motherboard with a ‘Minecraft’ hammer.”

    https://x.com/nfergus/status/1909024860245811464
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 121,517
    eek said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @JoeBLynam

    Banks really being hit in this Monday morning sell off: Bank of Ireland down 6.6%, AIB down 5.8%. Natwest down 8.6%. Hsbc down 5.5%

    I am regretting being the Head of Regulatory Affairs of a bank and wider financial services institution.

    ***Reviews capital adequacy requirements***
    Start on the basis that you are likely to breach those requirements and go from there..
    For context, we didn’t come close to breaching those during the pandemic nor did any other major bank (thanks to George Osborne and Martin Vickers) but I suspect a few might if things continue like this.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 29,970
    Eabhal said:

    I still haven't looked at my ISA :)

    Mine is down by two years' living costs.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 13,902
    Fishing said:

    eek said:

    nico67 said:

    To @eek and the others questioning a Trump trade deal - I understand and have never really wanted a trade deal with the US anyway, however the negotiations for one were done by the last Tory Government with Trump before Biden came in and stopped it, so they are already quite progressed.

    Agriculture is the sticking point . So it’s not going to happen .
    Well it will only happen if the Government wishes to be known as the Government who destroyed farming and introduced chlorinated chicken to the UK.

    So as you correctly state - it's not going to happen...
    It should though. UK farming is inefficient and should go the same way as other inefficient industries. Opening our ports to cheap foreign food will reduce the cost of living, especially for the poorest who spend a higher proportion of their budget on food, as it did in the nineteenth century.

    It will also enable unproductive agricultural land (and labour and capital) to be used for productive purposes such as houses or industry.

    The government, dismal in most respects, has made a decent start by gradually reducing farm subsidies since we left the EU and removing the indefensible inheritance tax exemption but needs to go much further and faster.

    Of course the farmers and their protectionist Trumpian allies will complain, as they always do with anything that smacks of economic literacy.
    Here are a couple of things we should not outsource to the global lowest bidders. One is food security, another is our armed forces, another is the keeping of state secrets. Others come to mind. Of these, food security is the most important and the first we would notice when something goes wrong.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 6,319
    Nigelb said:

    The US/EU trade deal might be a bit if a stretch...

    Trump calls for Europe to pay reparations to the US: "We put a big tariff on Europe. They are coming to the table. They want to talk, but there's no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis number one for present but also for past."
    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1909034677727272997

    Hold on - isn't it all Biden's and therefore America's fault that Russia invaded Ukraine which has cost Europe a massive drop in living standards plus all the aid we give Ukraine. We should charge the US for that - should be many trillions - as a precondition for starting talks.
  • AugustusCarp2AugustusCarp2 Posts: 302

    Scott_xP said:

    @JoeBLynam

    Banks really being hit in this Monday morning sell off: Bank of Ireland down 6.6%, AIB down 5.8%. Natwest down 8.6%. Hsbc down 5.5%

    I am regretting being the Head of Regulatory Affairs of a bank and wider financial services institution.

    ***Reviews capital adequacy requirements***
    I feel your pain! Glad I am out of it now, but if I was back in the office I would be checking the Market Makers for sudden long positions in now-illiquid stocks, and making sure the client money was in more than one different bank. Corporate Finance meetings would be even more depressing than usual, and the analysts would all be sitting around saying "I told you so!" despite the evidence of the notes they produced last week.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,359

    malcolmg said:

    Eabhal said:

    I still haven't looked at my ISA :)

    Best not to, it is not pretty
    Some of us have just retired. I think I'm down by my last 2 years salary.

    I should know better by now but I'm surprised quite how sheep like the reaction has been. He's been saying he's going to do this for months.
    I’ve just retired. I’m not too bothered. I’m down as well but I’m confident longer term this will recover and I’m fortunate enough to have moved my company DC pension to my SIPP and asked for it to go into cash and this went through before the collapse. I asked for it in cash as I wasn’t sure how long it would take not because I expected this. So it’s probably 75% luck 25% judgement.

    Everything is taking a pasting at the moment. Quality will come back.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 24,169
    algarkirk said:

    Fishing said:

    eek said:

    nico67 said:

    To @eek and the others questioning a Trump trade deal - I understand and have never really wanted a trade deal with the US anyway, however the negotiations for one were done by the last Tory Government with Trump before Biden came in and stopped it, so they are already quite progressed.

    Agriculture is the sticking point . So it’s not going to happen .
    Well it will only happen if the Government wishes to be known as the Government who destroyed farming and introduced chlorinated chicken to the UK.

    So as you correctly state - it's not going to happen...
    It should though. UK farming is inefficient and should go the same way as other inefficient industries. Opening our ports to cheap foreign food will reduce the cost of living, especially for the poorest who spend a higher proportion of their budget on food, as it did in the nineteenth century.

    It will also enable unproductive agricultural land (and labour and capital) to be used for productive purposes such as houses or industry.

    The government, dismal in most respects, has made a decent start by gradually reducing farm subsidies since we left the EU and removing the indefensible inheritance tax exemption but needs to go much further and faster.

    Of course the farmers and their protectionist Trumpian allies will complain, as they always do with anything that smacks of economic literacy.
    Here are a couple of things we should not outsource to the global lowest bidders. One is food security, another is our armed forces, another is the keeping of state secrets. Others come to mind. Of these, food security is the most important and the first we would notice when something goes wrong.
    Judging by covid we would notice a bog roll shortage before we noticed the lack of food.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 13,902

    If Len Deighton had written a novel about a Soviet asset who was elected President of the USA and subsequently crashed the West to allow a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, no one would have read such ridiculous nonsense.

    Everyone would have stopped reading at the point where a former stock broker from Dulwich assisted by an old Etonian Foreign Secretary who dresses like a clown and attends KGB run parties in Italy, engineers Britain out of the World 's largest friction free trade organisation.

    A coup is taking place in the USA. Is a counter-coup out of the question?
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 24,169

    Eabhal said:

    I still haven't looked at my ISA :)

    Mine is down by two years' living costs.
    Dont worry, Trump will bring down expected lifetimes by a similar amount with his plans for WW3.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,359
    edited April 7

    ..
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,979
    This is the crucial question

    @AllieRenison

    How long can President Trump and co hang on to the “it’s just Wall Street not Main Street” narrative…

    https://x.com/AllieRenison/status/1909151448014667960

    Does it last the week?
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,359
    Scott_xP said:

    This is the crucial question

    @AllieRenison

    How long can President Trump and co hang on to the “it’s just Wall Street not Main Street” narrative…

    https://x.com/AllieRenison/status/1909151448014667960

    Does it last the week?

    If it doesn’t a lot,of,people who took money out are going to miss the massive swing back.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 29,970
    algarkirk said:

    If Len Deighton had written a novel about a Soviet asset who was elected President of the USA and subsequently crashed the West to allow a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, no one would have read such ridiculous nonsense.

    Everyone would have stopped reading at the point where a former stock broker from Dulwich assisted by an old Etonian Foreign Secretary who dresses like a clown and attends KGB run parties in Italy, engineers Britain out of the World 's largest friction free trade organisation.

    A coup is taking place in the USA. Is a counter-coup out of the question?
    President Vance might be worse.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,359

    Scott_xP said:

    @JoeBLynam

    Banks really being hit in this Monday morning sell off: Bank of Ireland down 6.6%, AIB down 5.8%. Natwest down 8.6%. Hsbc down 5.5%

    I am regretting being the Head of Regulatory Affairs of a bank and wider financial services institution.

    ***Reviews capital adequacy requirements***
    I feel your pain! Glad I am out of it now, but if I was back in the office I would be checking the Market Makers for sudden long positions in now-illiquid stocks, and making sure the client money was in more than one different bank. Corporate Finance meetings would be even more depressing than usual, and the analysts would all be sitting around saying "I told you so!" despite the evidence of the notes they produced last week.
    Funny you say that.

    Last week a bank, cannot remember which, had Nvidia as a hold at $103

    Only a month or so before it was a buy at $153 !

    Set trends or follow them
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 51,028

    scampi25 said:

    scampi25 said:

    FTSE now down 4.5% Dax 7% - less bad than Asia - maybe stabilising. Could be worse....

    It will be! Another 10-15% to come in my mind.
    Not sure. Got to be people with cash looking at the cheap prices ..
    Market crashes overshoot and then bounce back fairly quickly. My best guess would be the Dow bottoms out around 30-33k and ends the year around 40k. Buying now for long term is not terrible imo, but is really bad if any chance of getting spooked and selling in next few weeks.
    Usually it takes six months for markets to bottom out (covid wave 1 was an exception) so I am in no hurry to go looking for bargains. Now about 35% cash, but in large part due to equity shrinkage rather than sales.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,367

    DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Nigelb said:

    Miller: We had an economy that was in a state of calamity and catastrophe.
    https://x.com/Acyn/status/1908230980600791055

    There comes a point when even low information voters who take their cue from social media will look at their own bank accounts and say "WTF???"
    They had an economy that had record employment, inflation coming down to target, a rapidly increasing number of new industrial jobs and benefitting from more infrastructure spending than had been seen in decades.

    There was a lot wrong too, a large trade deficit, a significant, if declining, fiscal deficit and very little improvement in the standard of living for many Americans. But compared with what they have now, it was nirvana.
    Doesnt that rather depend on who you are ?

    The people at the top had it great, those at the bottom less so.
    Hence the reference to "very little improvement in the standard of living for many Americans". But Biden's CHIP Act and other policies to encourage internal production, whilst probably breaching the now defunct WTO rules, were putting the US back towards a viable path, certainly more viable than a step off a cliff.
    Biden was taking the US to bankruptcy a step at a time. Trump may be doing the same with a great leap, but alternatively if he stops the rot he'll have earned his keep.

    Too early to say how this works out.
    Given a few Trump supporters here are oddly silent about their hero in recent days, it’s nice to see someone standing by his economic strategy.

    Sorry, did I say “nice”? I meant, “bonkers”.

    Trump is not stopping the rot. He has no understanding of how anything works. He has wrecked the world economy. He is ignoring the rule of law at home. He is going to make Americans, and us, poorer.
    You dont know what the outcome will be any more than I do.

    You just jump on the usual Trump bandwagon and scream like a banshee.

    In fact in Trump 1.0 he called several things right. Europeans not carrying their fair share of defence, over dependency of Russian energy, China.

    In Trump 2.0 it will be the same he will get some things right and some things wrong. Some of them like tariffs will impact the UK, but the UKs problems fundamentally can only be solved by the UK and Trump is just a distraction.
    Desirable Chateau near Paris going cheap?

    The CAC down 6%........
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,979

    algarkirk said:

    If Len Deighton had written a novel about a Soviet asset who was elected President of the USA and subsequently crashed the West to allow a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, no one would have read such ridiculous nonsense.

    Everyone would have stopped reading at the point where a former stock broker from Dulwich assisted by an old Etonian Foreign Secretary who dresses like a clown and attends KGB run parties in Italy, engineers Britain out of the World 's largest friction free trade organisation.

    A coup is taking place in the USA. Is a counter-coup out of the question?
    President Vance might be worse.
    That's an interesting question

    Although Vance is arguably more dangerous than Trump, he has none of the personal support

    Truss was more dangerous than BoZo, but the Tories had no qualms about ditching her compared to him

    I think if trump falls, the GOP try and claim a return to sanity which they won't let Vance mess up
  • AugustusCarp2AugustusCarp2 Posts: 302
    Taz said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @JoeBLynam

    Banks really being hit in this Monday morning sell off: Bank of Ireland down 6.6%, AIB down 5.8%. Natwest down 8.6%. Hsbc down 5.5%

    I am regretting being the Head of Regulatory Affairs of a bank and wider financial services institution.

    ***Reviews capital adequacy requirements***
    I feel your pain! Glad I am out of it now, but if I was back in the office I would be checking the Market Makers for sudden long positions in now-illiquid stocks, and making sure the client money was in more than one different bank. Corporate Finance meetings would be even more depressing than usual, and the analysts would all be sitting around saying "I told you so!" despite the evidence of the notes they produced last week.
    Funny you say that.

    Last week a bank, cannot remember which, had Nvidia as a hold at $103

    Only a month or so before it was a buy at $153 !

    Set trends or follow them
    "A trend is a trend is a trend,
    But the question is, will it bend?"

    (City of London, traditional)
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,979
    @Reuters
    ·
    1m
    Trade halted at Pakistan stock exchange after index slumps more than 5%
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,329
    algarkirk said:

    Fishing said:

    eek said:

    nico67 said:

    To @eek and the others questioning a Trump trade deal - I understand and have never really wanted a trade deal with the US anyway, however the negotiations for one were done by the last Tory Government with Trump before Biden came in and stopped it, so they are already quite progressed.

    Agriculture is the sticking point . So it’s not going to happen .
    Well it will only happen if the Government wishes to be known as the Government who destroyed farming and introduced chlorinated chicken to the UK.

    So as you correctly state - it's not going to happen...
    It should though. UK farming is inefficient and should go the same way as other inefficient industries. Opening our ports to cheap foreign food will reduce the cost of living, especially for the poorest who spend a higher proportion of their budget on food, as it did in the nineteenth century.

    It will also enable unproductive agricultural land (and labour and capital) to be used for productive purposes such as houses or industry.

    The government, dismal in most respects, has made a decent start by gradually reducing farm subsidies since we left the EU and removing the indefensible inheritance tax exemption but needs to go much further and faster.

    Of course the farmers and their protectionist Trumpian allies will complain, as they always do with anything that smacks of economic literacy.
    Here are a couple of things we should not outsource to the global lowest bidders. One is food security, another is our armed forces, another is the keeping of state secrets. Others come to mind. Of these, food security is the most important and the first we would notice when something goes wrong.
    That's three things...
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,177
    Do the banks need to turn on the money printing taps yet ?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,329
    kamski said:

    Nigelb said:

    The US/EU trade deal might be a bit if a stretch...

    Trump calls for Europe to pay reparations to the US: "We put a big tariff on Europe. They are coming to the table. They want to talk, but there's no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis number one for present but also for past."
    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1909034677727272997

    Hold on - isn't it all Biden's and therefore America's fault that Russia invaded Ukraine which has cost Europe a massive drop in living standards plus all the aid we give Ukraine. We should charge the US for that - should be many trillions - as a precondition for starting talks.
    I see you're getting the hang of how trade wars work.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,979
    @mariatad

    Global sell-off, most reciprocal thing about these tariffs so far.

    https://x.com/mariatad/status/1909157550404026554
  • glwglw Posts: 10,341
    Nigelb said:

    The US/EU trade deal might be a bit if a stretch...

    Trump calls for Europe to pay reparations to the US: "We put a big tariff on Europe. They are coming to the table. They want to talk, but there's no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis number one for present but also for past."
    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1909034677727272997

    Trump really is raving mad at this point. Just some of the things he "thinks" include, zero deficits are possible or desirable, tariffs are paid by other countries, countries must pay us to trade. This would fail any pupil doing GCSE business studies.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 45,216
    Scott_xP said:

    algarkirk said:

    If Len Deighton had written a novel about a Soviet asset who was elected President of the USA and subsequently crashed the West to allow a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, no one would have read such ridiculous nonsense.

    Everyone would have stopped reading at the point where a former stock broker from Dulwich assisted by an old Etonian Foreign Secretary who dresses like a clown and attends KGB run parties in Italy, engineers Britain out of the World 's largest friction free trade organisation.

    A coup is taking place in the USA. Is a counter-coup out of the question?
    President Vance might be worse.
    That's an interesting question

    Although Vance is arguably more dangerous than Trump, he has none of the personal support

    Truss was more dangerous than BoZo, but the Tories had no qualms about ditching her compared to him

    I think if trump falls, the GOP try and claim a return to sanity which they won't let Vance mess up
    Vance is part of the regime, and has (publicly at least) been in lock-step with Trump over the tariffs. The poison us on his hands, too.
  • The_WoodpeckerThe_Woodpecker Posts: 470

    America, wake up and smell the coffee.

    You know, that coffee you don't produce. And have to import.

    With tariffs.

    Hawaii produces coffee. About 0.01% of US demand.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,359
    kamski said:

    Nigelb said:

    The US/EU trade deal might be a bit if a stretch...

    Trump calls for Europe to pay reparations to the US: "We put a big tariff on Europe. They are coming to the table. They want to talk, but there's no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis number one for present but also for past."
    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1909034677727272997

    Hold on - isn't it all Biden's and therefore America's fault that Russia invaded Ukraine which has cost Europe a massive drop in living standards plus all the aid we give Ukraine. We should charge the US for that - should be many trillions - as a precondition for starting talks.
    Bit early to be smoking crack isn’t it ?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,329

    Scott_xP said:

    algarkirk said:

    If Len Deighton had written a novel about a Soviet asset who was elected President of the USA and subsequently crashed the West to allow a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, no one would have read such ridiculous nonsense.

    Everyone would have stopped reading at the point where a former stock broker from Dulwich assisted by an old Etonian Foreign Secretary who dresses like a clown and attends KGB run parties in Italy, engineers Britain out of the World 's largest friction free trade organisation.

    A coup is taking place in the USA. Is a counter-coup out of the question?
    President Vance might be worse.
    That's an interesting question

    Although Vance is arguably more dangerous than Trump, he has none of the personal support

    Truss was more dangerous than BoZo, but the Tories had no qualms about ditching her compared to him

    I think if trump falls, the GOP try and claim a return to sanity which they won't let Vance mess up
    Vance is part of the regime, and has (publicly at least) been in lock-step with Trump over the tariffs. The poison us on his hands, too.
    There are quite a few true believers like that in the administration.
    I don't think this resolves itself quickly.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,771
    Of course whether the tariffs damage the GOP or not depends on whether the cost of living rise they bring about outweighs any increase in US manufacturing jobs created. Plus whether consumers switch more to buying US produced goods instead.

    Boris did end EEA free movement but massively increased non EU immigration instead. Rishi actually started to reverse that when they tightened visa wage requirements for migrants and restricted the ability of dependents to be brought in
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,020
    Nigelb said:

    Scott_xP said:

    FTSE down 6% at open

    @IGcom

    🚨 Defence stocks dive

    Rolls-Royce sinks another 12%
    Rheinmetall down 20%

    FTSE 100 has tumbled from record highs to a 1-year low in just a month.

    Considering both of these companies are likely to receive substantial state-backed orders I don’t understand why their shares are less desirable now?
    They've gone up massively in the last few months, and shareholders are taking their profits while they can.

    The lesson of the last couple of crashes is that the good falls along with the bad.
    And nothing recovers in a hurry.
    they have been dropping since beginning of february
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,966
    Scott_xP said:

    @nfergus

    “The president stands as much chance of reindustrializing the U.S. as you do of getting your frozen laptop to work by smashing the motherboard with a ‘Minecraft’ hammer.”

    https://x.com/nfergus/status/1909024860245811464

    That’s rubbish. Percussive maintenance does actually work, on occasion. Every good engineer has a selection of rubber coated hammers/mallets.

    Trumps policy of setting everything on fire has zero chance of working.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,223
    Dan Norris, the Labour MP and West of England mayor, has been accused of bullying and harassment by staff at a local authority, The Telegraph can reveal.

    The accusations were made against Mr Norris in his role as mayor

    In recent years, the authority has handed over hundreds of thousands of pounds in taxpayers’ money to pay off former employees.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/07/labour-mayor-dan-norris-accused-bullying-harassment-staff/

    And Labour still selected him.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,979
    glw said:

    Nigelb said:

    The US/EU trade deal might be a bit if a stretch...

    Trump calls for Europe to pay reparations to the US: "We put a big tariff on Europe. They are coming to the table. They want to talk, but there's no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis number one for present but also for past."
    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1909034677727272997

    Trump really is raving mad at this point. Just some of the things he "thinks" include, zero deficits are possible or desirable, tariffs are paid by other countries, countries must pay us to trade. This would fail any pupil doing GCSE business studies.
    Yes, he's a blubbering idiot

    But so far the whole regime are prepared to go along with it

    Look at all the numpties who went on TV yesterday and committed to 'allowing the President to do his thing"
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,771
    Scott_xP said:

    algarkirk said:

    If Len Deighton had written a novel about a Soviet asset who was elected President of the USA and subsequently crashed the West to allow a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, no one would have read such ridiculous nonsense.

    Everyone would have stopped reading at the point where a former stock broker from Dulwich assisted by an old Etonian Foreign Secretary who dresses like a clown and attends KGB run parties in Italy, engineers Britain out of the World 's largest friction free trade organisation.

    A coup is taking place in the USA. Is a counter-coup out of the question?
    President Vance might be worse.
    That's an interesting question

    Although Vance is arguably more dangerous than Trump, he has none of the personal support

    Truss was more dangerous than BoZo, but the Tories had no qualms about ditching her compared to him

    I think if trump falls, the GOP try and claim a return to sanity which they won't let Vance mess up
    Currently Republican primary voters are split between Vance and Trump jr for next time, they alone pick the GOP candidate not GOP Congressional representatives and Senators
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 45,216
    Taz said:


    ..

    That's a very good article, and pretty much in line with what my parents used to do. Thanks.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,367
    edited April 7

    Roger said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Nigelb said:

    Miller: We had an economy that was in a state of calamity and catastrophe.
    https://x.com/Acyn/status/1908230980600791055

    There comes a point when even low information voters who take their cue from social media will look at their own bank accounts and say "WTF???"
    "Low information voters".....Is that the polite way of referring to Faragists?
    It's an impolite way, but accurate.

    Roger, I was interested in your views on that awful Labour ad featuring Kemi and, I think, Farage. Has it been pulled?
    I don't know but I don't believe it was genuine. No Ad agency would produce something that couldn't work. Even the most junior trainee put down artist would have spotted the problem. It's possible they did it in-house and if so it'll teach them a useful lesson.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,359

    Taz said:


    ..

    That's a very good article, and pretty much in line with what my parents used to do. Thanks.
    Its excellent and I take it that approach served them well too.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 31,066

    DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Nigelb said:

    Miller: We had an economy that was in a state of calamity and catastrophe.
    https://x.com/Acyn/status/1908230980600791055

    There comes a point when even low information voters who take their cue from social media will look at their own bank accounts and say "WTF???"
    They had an economy that had record employment, inflation coming down to target, a rapidly increasing number of new industrial jobs and benefitting from more infrastructure spending than had been seen in decades.

    There was a lot wrong too, a large trade deficit, a significant, if declining, fiscal deficit and very little improvement in the standard of living for many Americans. But compared with what they have now, it was nirvana.
    Doesnt that rather depend on who you are ?

    The people at the top had it great, those at the bottom less so.
    Hence the reference to "very little improvement in the standard of living for many Americans". But Biden's CHIP Act and other policies to encourage internal production, whilst probably breaching the now defunct WTO rules, were putting the US back towards a viable path, certainly more viable than a step off a cliff.
    Biden was taking the US to bankruptcy a step at a time. Trump may be doing the same with a great leap, but alternatively if he stops the rot he'll have earned his keep.

    Too early to say how this works out.
    Given a few Trump supporters here are oddly silent about their hero in recent days, it’s nice to see someone standing by his economic strategy.

    Sorry, did I say “nice”? I meant, “bonkers”.

    Trump is not stopping the rot. He has no understanding of how anything works. He has wrecked the world economy. He is ignoring the rule of law at home. He is going to make Americans, and us, poorer.
    You dont know what the outcome will be any more than I do.

    You just jump on the usual Trump bandwagon and scream like a banshee.

    In fact in Trump 1.0 he called several things right. Europeans not carrying their fair share of defence, over dependency of Russian energy, China.

    In Trump 2.0 it will be the same he will get some things right and some things wrong. Some of them like tariffs will impact the UK, but the UKs problems fundamentally can only be solved by the UK and Trump is just a distraction.
    The outcome will be awful. Stay in your lane, "Reeves is crap".
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,177
    On coffee, Columbia and Brazil should be able to clean up relative in the US market relative to Vietnam and Indonesia if tariffs remain as is.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,359

    Dan Norris, the Labour MP and West of England mayor, has been accused of bullying and harassment by staff at a local authority, The Telegraph can reveal.

    The accusations were made against Mr Norris in his role as mayor

    In recent years, the authority has handed over hundreds of thousands of pounds in taxpayers’ money to pay off former employees.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/07/labour-mayor-dan-norris-accused-bullying-harassment-staff/

    And Labour still selected him.

    Had his legal difficulties at the weekend not come out this would not even have got a mention.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,771
    nico67 said:

    I suspect tomorrow will see a relief from the market panic and then it’s down to what happens with China on Thursday .

    I’m not convinced those tariffs have been priced in yet as there might be some thinking there will be some last minute agreement.

    China is the biggest origin of cheap dumped goods on the US market, even Biden tariffed Chinese imports so it would be political suicide with his base for Trump to abandon his tariffs on Chinese imports
  • rkrkrkrkrkrk Posts: 8,625
    Foxy said:

    scampi25 said:

    scampi25 said:

    FTSE now down 4.5% Dax 7% - less bad than Asia - maybe stabilising. Could be worse....

    It will be! Another 10-15% to come in my mind.
    Not sure. Got to be people with cash looking at the cheap prices ..
    Market crashes overshoot and then bounce back fairly quickly. My best guess would be the Dow bottoms out around 30-33k and ends the year around 40k. Buying now for long term is not terrible imo, but is really bad if any chance of getting spooked and selling in next few weeks.
    Usually it takes six months for markets to bottom out (covid wave 1 was an exception) so I am in no hurry to go looking for bargains. Now about 35% cash, but in large part due to equity shrinkage rather than sales.
    Unusually though it's very obvious what caused this crash and what would fix it.
    All Trump has to do is claim some (potentially imagined) victory and reverse himself and markets might bounce back?
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 5,523

    Scott_xP said:

    @JoeBLynam

    Banks really being hit in this Monday morning sell off: Bank of Ireland down 6.6%, AIB down 5.8%. Natwest down 8.6%. Hsbc down 5.5%

    I am regretting being the Head of Regulatory Affairs of a bank and wider financial services institution.

    ***Reviews capital adequacy requirements***
    I assume you will be a bit busy today.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 24,076

    Rather nice view from the Marlborough College 1st XI cricket pitch


    Dog for scale
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,367

    algarkirk said:

    If Len Deighton had written a novel about a Soviet asset who was elected President of the USA and subsequently crashed the West to allow a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, no one would have read such ridiculous nonsense.

    Everyone would have stopped reading at the point where a former stock broker from Dulwich assisted by an old Etonian Foreign Secretary who dresses like a clown and attends KGB run parties in Italy, engineers Britain out of the World 's largest friction free trade organisation.

    A coup is taking place in the USA. Is a counter-coup out of the question?
    President Vance might be worse.
    If the Dow went down 10% this afternoon I think we'd see some action. You get the feeling this is spiralling..........
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 53,474
    "Think big, think positive, never show any sign of weakness. Always go for the throat. Buy low, sell high. Fear? That's the other guy's problem. Nothing you have ever experienced will prepare you for the absolute carnage you are about to witness. Super Bowl, World Series - they don't know what pressure is. In this building, it's either kill or be killed. You make no friends in the pits and you take no prisoners. One minute you're up half a million in soybeans and the next, boom, your kids don't go to college and they've repossessed your Bentley. Are you with me?"
    - Dan Aykroyd in "Trading Places".
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,348
    Scott_xP said:

    glw said:

    Nigelb said:

    The US/EU trade deal might be a bit if a stretch...

    Trump calls for Europe to pay reparations to the US: "We put a big tariff on Europe. They are coming to the table. They want to talk, but there's no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis number one for present but also for past."
    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1909034677727272997

    Trump really is raving mad at this point. Just some of the things he "thinks" include, zero deficits are possible or desirable, tariffs are paid by other countries, countries must pay us to trade. This would fail any pupil doing GCSE business studies.
    Yes, he's a blubbering idiot

    But so far the whole regime are prepared to go along with it

    Look at all the numpties who went on TV yesterday and committed to 'allowing the President to do his thing"

    Dr Anna Jerzewska
    @AnnaJerzewska

    The message is clear: stop trading with us cause you seem to have a comparative advantage.

    https://x.com/AnnaJerzewska/status/1908906240106758539
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,329
    .
    malcolmg said:

    Nigelb said:

    Scott_xP said:

    FTSE down 6% at open

    @IGcom

    🚨 Defence stocks dive

    Rolls-Royce sinks another 12%
    Rheinmetall down 20%

    FTSE 100 has tumbled from record highs to a 1-year low in just a month.

    Considering both of these companies are likely to receive substantial state-backed orders I don’t understand why their shares are less desirable now?
    They've gone up massively in the last few months, and shareholders are taking their profits while they can.

    The lesson of the last couple of crashes is that the good falls along with the bad.
    And nothing recovers in a hurry.
    They have been dropping since beginning of february
    Sure, malc.
    But they're still well above where they were in January.

    People are very happy to make 30 or 40% in a year, let alone a couple of months.
    And in this market, that would seem priceless.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,177
    Inflation watch -

    Office cleaning firm charge up 9.8% from last year.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 121,517

    Scott_xP said:

    @JoeBLynam

    Banks really being hit in this Monday morning sell off: Bank of Ireland down 6.6%, AIB down 5.8%. Natwest down 8.6%. Hsbc down 5.5%

    I am regretting being the Head of Regulatory Affairs of a bank and wider financial services institution.

    ***Reviews capital adequacy requirements***
    I assume you will be a bit busy today.
    I am going to busier than a cucumber in a women’s prison.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 5,523
    Good morning everyone. I see Trump is continuing to steal my pension and my savings. If he thinks that is going to encourage me to buy US goods…..
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 64,983
    edited April 7
    Roger said:

    Roger said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Nigelb said:

    Miller: We had an economy that was in a state of calamity and catastrophe.
    https://x.com/Acyn/status/1908230980600791055

    There comes a point when even low information voters who take their cue from social media will look at their own bank accounts and say "WTF???"
    "Low information voters".....Is that the polite way of referring to Faragists?
    It's an impolite way, but accurate.

    Roger, I was interested in your views on that awful Labour ad featuring Kemi and, I think, Farage. Has it been pulled?
    I don't know but I don't believe it was genuine. No Ad agency would produce something that couldn't work. Even the most junior trainee put down artist would have spotted the problem. It's possible they did it in-house and if so it'll teach them a useful lesson.
    Trevor Philips on Sky yesterday morning confronted Darren Jones saying it was disgusting only for Jones to defend it
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,329
    Interesting thread on China.

    Amid Trump tariff chaos, People’s Daily published an editorial today urging everyone to “Focus on Doing Your Own Things”—a phrase that sums up China’s core strategy. This thread breaks it down.

    It begins by acknowledging that U.S. tariffs do hurt, but “the sky can’t collapse.”

    https://x.com/henrysgao/status/1909040507512316205

    Bottom line is that they'd still probably prefer to deal with the US than go to an all out trade war - but they're certainly not going to roll over for Trump.

    We're probably in that stupid situation where face is more important to both sides than the actual outcome. Which could turn out very badly for the world.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 5,523

    Scott_xP said:

    @JoeBLynam

    Banks really being hit in this Monday morning sell off: Bank of Ireland down 6.6%, AIB down 5.8%. Natwest down 8.6%. Hsbc down 5.5%

    I am regretting being the Head of Regulatory Affairs of a bank and wider financial services institution.

    ***Reviews capital adequacy requirements***
    I assume you will be a bit busy today.
    I am going to busier than a cucumber in a women’s prison.
    As long as you’re a straight cucumber!
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 18,243

    Scott_xP said:

    glw said:

    Nigelb said:

    The US/EU trade deal might be a bit if a stretch...

    Trump calls for Europe to pay reparations to the US: "We put a big tariff on Europe. They are coming to the table. They want to talk, but there's no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis number one for present but also for past."
    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1909034677727272997

    Trump really is raving mad at this point. Just some of the things he "thinks" include, zero deficits are possible or desirable, tariffs are paid by other countries, countries must pay us to trade. This would fail any pupil doing GCSE business studies.
    Yes, he's a blubbering idiot

    But so far the whole regime are prepared to go along with it

    Look at all the numpties who went on TV yesterday and committed to 'allowing the President to do his thing"

    Dr Anna Jerzewska
    @AnnaJerzewska

    The message is clear: stop trading with us cause you seem to have a comparative advantage.

    https://x.com/AnnaJerzewska/status/1908906240106758539
    Bottom line is that the realisation of that fact- that America isn't top nation for everything any more- is what sends Trump and MAGAhats utterly potty.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,653
    Pulpstar said:

    Inflation watch -

    Office cleaning firm charge up 9.8% from last year.

    Doesn’t surprise me at all - in fact given the NI and minimum wage changes I think you’ve got off lightly - I’ve seen a lot of changes at 12% for that type of work.

    In fact we had to tell someone last week that the minimum wage increase was April 1st so go back and rerun the payments for last week before HMRC come call g
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,329

    Taz said:

    kamski said:

    Nigelb said:

    The US/EU trade deal might be a bit if a stretch...

    Trump calls for Europe to pay reparations to the US: "We put a big tariff on Europe. They are coming to the table. They want to talk, but there's no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis number one for present but also for past."
    https://x.com/atrupar/status/1909034677727272997

    Hold on - isn't it all Biden's and therefore America's fault that Russia invaded Ukraine which has cost Europe a massive drop in living standards plus all the aid we give Ukraine. We should charge the US for that - should be many trillions - as a precondition for starting talks.
    Bit early to be smoking crack isn’t it ?
    I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue...
    You can't tell whether or not the hallucinations have cleared up ?
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,348

    Faisal Islam
    @faisalislam
    Free fall in European/ Asian markets… double digit falls in Germany, Hong Kong…

    Some massive falls among industry/ banks.

    As markets wake up to the reality that two key coping assumptions now appear wrong:

    ❌ tariffs were an opening salvo in deals
    ❌ Trump “put” on markets

    https://x.com/faisalislam/status/1909146236227035482
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 5,523

    DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Nigelb said:

    Miller: We had an economy that was in a state of calamity and catastrophe.
    https://x.com/Acyn/status/1908230980600791055

    There comes a point when even low information voters who take their cue from social media will look at their own bank accounts and say "WTF???"
    They had an economy that had record employment, inflation coming down to target, a rapidly increasing number of new industrial jobs and benefitting from more infrastructure spending than had been seen in decades.

    There was a lot wrong too, a large trade deficit, a significant, if declining, fiscal deficit and very little improvement in the standard of living for many Americans. But compared with what they have now, it was nirvana.
    Doesnt that rather depend on who you are ?

    The people at the top had it great, those at the bottom less so.
    Hence the reference to "very little improvement in the standard of living for many Americans". But Biden's CHIP Act and other policies to encourage internal production, whilst probably breaching the now defunct WTO rules, were putting the US back towards a viable path, certainly more viable than a step off a cliff.
    Biden was taking the US to bankruptcy a step at a time. Trump may be doing the same with a great leap, but alternatively if he stops the rot he'll have earned his keep.

    Too early to say how this works out.
    Given a few Trump supporters here are oddly silent about their hero in recent days, it’s nice to see someone standing by his economic strategy.

    Sorry, did I say “nice”? I meant, “bonkers”.

    Trump is not stopping the rot. He has no understanding of how anything works. He has wrecked the world economy. He is ignoring the rule of law at home. He is going to make Americans, and us, poorer.
    You dont know what the outcome will be any more than I do.

    You just jump on the usual Trump bandwagon and scream like a banshee.

    In fact in Trump 1.0 he called several things right. Europeans not carrying their fair share of defence, over dependency of Russian energy, China.

    In Trump 2.0 it will be the same he will get some things right and some things wrong. Some of them like tariffs will impact the UK, but the UKs problems fundamentally can only be solved by the UK and Trump is just a distraction.
    The outcome will be awful. Stay in your lane, "Reeves is crap".
    Whilst other countries will be looking at ways to boost their economies, the Treasury will be persuading the Government that austerity is the only alternative.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,771
    Fishing said:

    eek said:

    nico67 said:

    To @eek and the others questioning a Trump trade deal - I understand and have never really wanted a trade deal with the US anyway, however the negotiations for one were done by the last Tory Government with Trump before Biden came in and stopped it, so they are already quite progressed.

    Agriculture is the sticking point . So it’s not going to happen .
    Well it will only happen if the Government wishes to be known as the Government who destroyed farming and introduced chlorinated chicken to the UK.

    So as you correctly state - it's not going to happen...
    It should though. UK farming is inefficient and should go the same way as other inefficient industries. Opening our ports to cheap foreign food will reduce the cost of living, especially for the poorest who spend a higher proportion of their budget on food, as it did in the nineteenth century.

    It will also enable unproductive agricultural land (and labour and capital) to be used for productive purposes such as houses or industry.

    The government, dismal in most respects, has made a decent start by gradually reducing farm subsidies since we left the EU and removing the indefensible inheritance tax exemption but needs to go much further and faster.

    Of course the farmers and their protectionist Trumpian allies will complain, as they always do with anything that smacks of economic literacy.
    I assume that is satire otherwise it is one of the worst posts I have ever read on PB.

    Hitting our farming industry at a time we have lost grain supplies from Ukraine and Russia and have left the EU and are in a tariff war with the USA and saying we can just rely on food imports is absurd.

    It is no wonder this government is one of the most unpopular since records began with policies like that
  • eekeek Posts: 29,653
    Taz said:

    Dan Norris, the Labour MP and West of England mayor, has been accused of bullying and harassment by staff at a local authority, The Telegraph can reveal.

    The accusations were made against Mr Norris in his role as mayor

    In recent years, the authority has handed over hundreds of thousands of pounds in taxpayers’ money to pay off former employees.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/07/labour-mayor-dan-norris-accused-bullying-harassment-staff/

    And Labour still selected him.

    Had his legal difficulties at the weekend not come out this would not even have got a mention.
    Because he would have argued the issue was tittle tattle and did not reflect reality. Hard to do that when there is other evidence in the public domain to back up the allegation
  • kjhkjh Posts: 12,451
    Dura_Ace said:

    Scott_xP said:

    FTSE down 6% at open

    @IGcom

    🚨 Defence stocks dive

    Rolls-Royce sinks another 12%
    Rheinmetall down 20%

    FTSE 100 has tumbled from record highs to a 1-year low in just a month.

    Well, I'm glad >50% of my net worth is in Porsche 911 parts.
    Trouble is at this rate we will all be riding bicycles.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,348
    What time today are the tech bros gonna start demanding back the millions of $ they gave for the inauguration party?

    You could call it reparations.

  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,223
    edited April 7


    Faisal Islam
    @faisalislam
    Free fall in European/ Asian markets… double digit falls in Germany, Hong Kong…

    Some massive falls among industry/ banks.

    As markets wake up to the reality that two key coping assumptions now appear wrong:

    ❌ tariffs were an opening salvo in deals
    ❌ Trump “put” on markets

    https://x.com/faisalislam/status/1909146236227035482

    I am not sure how he is drawing this conclusion. I would have thought a more realistic take is the market isn't confident that other countries trust him to do deals, will instead try to isolate Ametica and that is the massive flaw in this whole power play.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,966
    Fishing said:

    eek said:

    nico67 said:

    To @eek and the others questioning a Trump trade deal - I understand and have never really wanted a trade deal with the US anyway, however the negotiations for one were done by the last Tory Government with Trump before Biden came in and stopped it, so they are already quite progressed.

    Agriculture is the sticking point . So it’s not going to happen .
    Well it will only happen if the Government wishes to be known as the Government who destroyed farming and introduced chlorinated chicken to the UK.

    So as you correctly state - it's not going to happen...
    It should though. UK farming is inefficient and should go the same way as other inefficient industries. Opening our ports to cheap foreign food will reduce the cost of living, especially for the poorest who spend a higher proportion of their budget on food, as it did in the nineteenth century.

    It will also enable unproductive agricultural land (and labour and capital) to be used for productive purposes such as houses or industry.

    The government, dismal in most respects, has made a decent start by gradually reducing farm subsidies since we left the EU and removing the indefensible inheritance tax exemption but needs to go much further and faster.

    Of course the farmers and their protectionist Trumpian allies will complain, as they always do with anything that smacks of economic literacy.
    UK farming is relatively efficient - compared with many European countries.

    A major reason for inefficiency is the massive legal constraints on farming. See the discussion on US sourced chicken yesterday. We have as a society, mandated that farming land must be used in a constrained fashion.

    It's about choices. You could get production prices down to the lowest in the world, if you let rip. But people like hedge rows. And limits on chemicals. And....

    As to using agricultural land for other purposes (houses) - that is carefully and expressly forbidden. Hence the chap I knew, who could never get the police to come out for thefts and vandalism. But the authorities raced to his farm when he started putting the roof back on an old, abandoned building. For fear of he might be creating.... a house!
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,771

    If Len Deighton had written a novel about a Soviet asset who was elected President of the USA and subsequently crashed the West to allow a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, no one would have read such ridiculous nonsense.

    Everyone would have stopped reading at the point where a former stock broker from Dulwich assisted by an old Etonian Foreign Secretary who dresses like a clown and attends KGB run parties in Italy, engineers Britain out of the World 's largest friction free trade organisation.

    While Putin may want to rebuild the USSR even he has said he does not want to invade Western Europe
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,979
    Bibi is due at The Whitehouse today IIRC

    Israel already has zero tariffs for US goods but was hit last week

    It will be interesting to see what 'deal' if any emerges today
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,329
    The EU doesn't seem to be planning to blink first, either.

    Acting German economy minister Robert Habeck:

    “That is what I see, that Donald Trump will buckle under pressure, that he corrects his announcements under pressure, but the logical consequence is that he then also needs to feel the pressure,”.

    https://x.com/JackRyanlives/status/1909084292719796383
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 10,052
    kjh said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    Scott_xP said:

    FTSE down 6% at open

    @IGcom

    🚨 Defence stocks dive

    Rolls-Royce sinks another 12%
    Rheinmetall down 20%

    FTSE 100 has tumbled from record highs to a 1-year low in just a month.

    Well, I'm glad >50% of my net worth is in Porsche 911 parts.
    Trouble is at this rate we will all be riding bicycles.
    Unlikely, oil prices have crashed -15% over the last week.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,223
    edited April 7

    Fishing said:

    eek said:

    nico67 said:

    To @eek and the others questioning a Trump trade deal - I understand and have never really wanted a trade deal with the US anyway, however the negotiations for one were done by the last Tory Government with Trump before Biden came in and stopped it, so they are already quite progressed.

    Agriculture is the sticking point . So it’s not going to happen .
    Well it will only happen if the Government wishes to be known as the Government who destroyed farming and introduced chlorinated chicken to the UK.

    So as you correctly state - it's not going to happen...
    It should though. UK farming is inefficient and should go the same way as other inefficient industries. Opening our ports to cheap foreign food will reduce the cost of living, especially for the poorest who spend a higher proportion of their budget on food, as it did in the nineteenth century.

    It will also enable unproductive agricultural land (and labour and capital) to be used for productive purposes such as houses or industry.

    The government, dismal in most respects, has made a decent start by gradually reducing farm subsidies since we left the EU and removing the indefensible inheritance tax exemption but needs to go much further and faster.

    Of course the farmers and their protectionist Trumpian allies will complain, as they always do with anything that smacks of economic literacy.
    UK farming is relatively efficient - compared with many European countries.

    A major reason for inefficiency is the massive legal constraints on farming. See the discussion on US sourced chicken yesterday. We have as a society, mandated that farming land must be used in a constrained fashion.

    It's about choices. You could get production prices down to the lowest in the world, if you let rip. But people like hedge rows. And limits on chemicals. And....

    As to using agricultural land for other purposes (houses) - that is carefully and expressly forbidden. Hence the chap I knew, who could never get the police to come out for thefts and vandalism. But the authorities raced to his farm when he started putting the roof back on an old, abandoned building. For fear of he might be creating.... a house!
    He better not make any spicy tweets or write any grumpy emails....otherwise the whole police force will descend on him given his previous behaviour.
  • RogerRoger Posts: 20,367
    edited April 7


    Faisal Islam
    @faisalislam
    Free fall in European/ Asian markets… double digit falls in Germany, Hong Kong…

    Some massive falls among industry/ banks.

    As markets wake up to the reality that two key coping assumptions now appear wrong:

    ❌ tariffs were an opening salvo in deals
    ❌ Trump “put” on markets

    https://x.com/faisalislam/status/1909146236227035482

    So Liz Truss's time teaching Trump everything she knows wasn't wasted
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 37,979
    @julianHjessop

    Good example of how US #tariffs are increasing costs for US businesses and, as in this case, actually reducing investment in domestic production...

    https://x.com/julianHjessop/status/1909124198225654077
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,329
    Taiwan President William Lai offered zero tariffs as the basis for talks with the US and will not retaliate against the US’s 32% tariffs on Taiwan exports, media report, adding he pledged to remove trade barriers and boost investment by Taiwan companies in the US to “deepen Taiwan-US cooperation.”
    https://x.com/dnystedt/status/1909067829435047972
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,348

    ‪Alexander Fox‬ ‪@alexanderfox1.bsky.social‬

    These days, every time I get a notification from BBC News, I withdraw £50 from a cash machine and immediately set fire to it, just to save time.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 29,758
    HYUFD said:

    Of course whether the tariffs damage the GOP or not depends on whether the cost of living rise they bring about outweighs any increase in US manufacturing jobs created. Plus whether consumers switch more to buying US produced goods instead.

    The cost of living will rise and rise steeply - basic maths tells us that. The American economy relies on consumerism and so many of the things Americans buy are made elsewhere.

    As for manufacturing jobs being created, there will be a few, but they will be despite of not because of tariffs. A lot of talk over the weekend about Nintendo after they have switched off pre-orders in the US for the Switch 2. Pricing for the US had already been set high and supposedly Nintendo have built some inventory there before the trade barriers came down.

    But ongoing? Why sell the unit for $449 - already high - when it will quickly need to be $600. And the games many of which are digital download - you're now looking at $120 a game.

    Which American goods do you expect consumers to buy instead?
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 51,057

    Rather nice view from the Marlborough College 1st XI cricket pitch


    I like that you can see how big everything is
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 45,216
    In other news, I've just booked my first triathlon of the year. A sprint race, pool-based, on Easter Sunday! It should be a nice and easy start to the season. My next race will probably be my first Olympic distance, a fortnight later.

    I'm getting my usual oh-my-God-what-am-I-doing feeling now I've booked it... :)
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,359
    Pulpstar said:

    Inflation watch -

    Office cleaning firm charge up 9.8% from last year.

    Min wage and employers NI ?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,223


    ‪Alexander Fox‬ ‪@alexanderfox1.bsky.social‬

    These days, every time I get a notification from BBC News, I withdraw £50 from a cash machine and immediately set fire to it, just to save time.

    Cash..... what's that?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,966
    Nigelb said:

    Interesting thread on China.

    Amid Trump tariff chaos, People’s Daily published an editorial today urging everyone to “Focus on Doing Your Own Things”—a phrase that sums up China’s core strategy. This thread breaks it down.

    It begins by acknowledging that U.S. tariffs do hurt, but “the sky can’t collapse.”

    https://x.com/henrysgao/status/1909040507512316205

    Bottom line is that they'd still probably prefer to deal with the US than go to an all out trade war - but they're certainly not going to roll over for Trump.

    We're probably in that stupid situation where face is more important to both sides than the actual outcome. Which could turn out very badly for the world.

    They can't. Trump wants to end manufacturing of everything in China. What he wants is to carve a very large chunk out of the Chinese economy. Xi & Co. know that would be existential for them - the current political settlement is that they provide prosperity and in return the oligarchy is tolerated.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,177
    Taz said:

    Pulpstar said:

    Inflation watch -

    Office cleaning firm charge up 9.8% from last year.

    Min wage and employers NI ?
    Yes, it'll be that. And I don't think they're ripping us off as @Eek has said.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,359
    Scott_xP said:

    Bibi is due at The Whitehouse today IIRC

    Israel already has zero tariffs for US goods but was hit last week

    It will be interesting to see what 'deal' if any emerges today

    Annexation of Gaza by Israel.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 53,966

    Fishing said:

    eek said:

    nico67 said:

    To @eek and the others questioning a Trump trade deal - I understand and have never really wanted a trade deal with the US anyway, however the negotiations for one were done by the last Tory Government with Trump before Biden came in and stopped it, so they are already quite progressed.

    Agriculture is the sticking point . So it’s not going to happen .
    Well it will only happen if the Government wishes to be known as the Government who destroyed farming and introduced chlorinated chicken to the UK.

    So as you correctly state - it's not going to happen...
    It should though. UK farming is inefficient and should go the same way as other inefficient industries. Opening our ports to cheap foreign food will reduce the cost of living, especially for the poorest who spend a higher proportion of their budget on food, as it did in the nineteenth century.

    It will also enable unproductive agricultural land (and labour and capital) to be used for productive purposes such as houses or industry.

    The government, dismal in most respects, has made a decent start by gradually reducing farm subsidies since we left the EU and removing the indefensible inheritance tax exemption but needs to go much further and faster.

    Of course the farmers and their protectionist Trumpian allies will complain, as they always do with anything that smacks of economic literacy.
    UK farming is relatively efficient - compared with many European countries.

    A major reason for inefficiency is the massive legal constraints on farming. See the discussion on US sourced chicken yesterday. We have as a society, mandated that farming land must be used in a constrained fashion.

    It's about choices. You could get production prices down to the lowest in the world, if you let rip. But people like hedge rows. And limits on chemicals. And....

    As to using agricultural land for other purposes (houses) - that is carefully and expressly forbidden. Hence the chap I knew, who could never get the police to come out for thefts and vandalism. But the authorities raced to his farm when he started putting the roof back on an old, abandoned building. For fear of he might be creating.... a house!
    He better not make any spicy tweets or write any grumpy emails....otherwise the whole police force will descend on him given his previous behaviour.
    It was the planning types plus the police. He gave everyone huge mugs of tea - that was his standard response to just about everything. He was one of those people who doesn't do anger.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,329

    Nigelb said:

    Interesting thread on China.

    Amid Trump tariff chaos, People’s Daily published an editorial today urging everyone to “Focus on Doing Your Own Things”—a phrase that sums up China’s core strategy. This thread breaks it down.

    It begins by acknowledging that U.S. tariffs do hurt, but “the sky can’t collapse.”

    https://x.com/henrysgao/status/1909040507512316205

    Bottom line is that they'd still probably prefer to deal with the US than go to an all out trade war - but they're certainly not going to roll over for Trump.

    We're probably in that stupid situation where face is more important to both sides than the actual outcome. Which could turn out very badly for the world.

    They can't. Trump wants to end manufacturing of everything in China. What he wants is to carve a very large chunk out of the Chinese economy. Xi & Co. know that would be existential for them - the current political settlement is that they provide prosperity and in return the oligarchy is tolerated.
    Oh, I agree.
    Confrontation is more likely than a deal. But a deal would be possible if Trump were rational.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 83,223
    edited April 7
    Taz said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Bibi is due at The Whitehouse today IIRC

    Israel already has zero tariffs for US goods but was hit last week

    It will be interesting to see what 'deal' if any emerges today

    Annexation of Gaza by Israel.
    Wonder how many golf courses you could get on that land...asking for a friend.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,177


    ‪Alexander Fox‬ ‪@alexanderfox1.bsky.social‬

    These days, every time I get a notification from BBC News, I withdraw £50 from a cash machine and immediately set fire to it, just to save time.

    Witha £250-£300 cashpoint maximum it'd take a while to duplicate what Trump's doing to my pension :D
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,359
    kjh said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    Scott_xP said:

    FTSE down 6% at open

    @IGcom

    🚨 Defence stocks dive

    Rolls-Royce sinks another 12%
    Rheinmetall down 20%

    FTSE 100 has tumbled from record highs to a 1-year low in just a month.

    Well, I'm glad >50% of my net worth is in Porsche 911 parts.
    Trouble is at this rate we will all be riding bicycles.
    That will make the active travel loons happy.
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 3,357
    Roger said:

    Roger said:

    Scott_xP said:

    Nigelb said:

    Miller: We had an economy that was in a state of calamity and catastrophe.
    https://x.com/Acyn/status/1908230980600791055

    There comes a point when even low information voters who take their cue from social media will look at their own bank accounts and say "WTF???"
    "Low information voters".....Is that the polite way of referring to Faragists?
    It's an impolite way, but accurate.

    Roger, I was interested in your views on that awful Labour ad featuring Kemi and, I think, Farage. Has it been pulled?
    I don't know but I don't believe it was genuine. No Ad agency would produce something that couldn't work. Even the most junior trainee put down artist would have spotted the problem. It's possible they did it in-house and if so it'll teach them a useful lesson.
    Interesting. To my mind it was the sort of ad a party puts out when they're scared and have nothing else.

    Good morning, everyone.
  • BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 35,240
    HYUFD said:

    If Len Deighton had written a novel about a Soviet asset who was elected President of the USA and subsequently crashed the West to allow a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, no one would have read such ridiculous nonsense.

    Everyone would have stopped reading at the point where a former stock broker from Dulwich assisted by an old Etonian Foreign Secretary who dresses like a clown and attends KGB run parties in Italy, engineers Britain out of the World 's largest friction free trade organisation.

    While Putin may want to rebuild the USSR even he has said he does not want to invade Western Europe
    Oh well, that’s fine then: serial liar and megalomaniac autocrat says he has no intention of extending his control to Western Europe. Relax everyone!
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