‘National crisis’ was how Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba described the fallout from President Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs in a speech on Friday. That was strong language from the normally measured Ishiba, but was borne out by the bloodbath in the Nikkei stock exchange over the last few days of trading. Stock markets around the world have been battered, but Japan’s has been one of the worst. It plunged 2,600 points to close down a whopping 8 per cent today, the third largest fall on record.
Amongst the worst casualties were the Mizuho Financial Group, whose shares fell 10.6 per cent, and Mitsubishi, whose stock plunged by 10.2 per cent. Trading on futures was briefly suspended as circuit breaker limits were reached amid the carnage. Traders aren’t quite hurling themselves from office windows yet, but it has been a rough few days for the Japanese money men.
There is talk of a global slowdown tipping Japan into recession
The reason for all this mayhem? Cars.
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