NZ sharemarket opens down after S&P 500 falls 1.6% as tariff angst kills US stocks rally

All three US sharemarkets were down today amid worries about the US tariffs and a threat of global recession. Photo / Bloomberg

The New Zealand sharemarket has opened weaker following Wall Street’s decline.

In the initial minutes of trade, the S&P/NZX 50 Index was at 11,843.10, down 48.3 points or 0.41% from Tuesday’s close.

Wall Street stocks tumbled again on Tuesday (Wednesday morning NZT) as initially successful efforts to rebound from big losses faded amid worries over United States President Donald Trump’s trade wars.

All three major indices finished firmly in the red, with the S&P 500 shedding 1.6% to 4982.77, its first close below 5000 points in nearly a year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.8% at 37,645.59, a swing of about 1780 points below its session peak, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 2.2% to 15,267.91.

After three days of losses, Wall Street stocks opened buoyantly as traders embraced talk of White House negotiations with Japan and South Korea in the hopes Trump’s trade onslaught might be short-lived.

But investors grew edgy as the day progressed with no concrete progress. Meanwhile, the White House confirmed plans for massive tariffs on China to go into effect overnight.

“Obviously investors are clamouring for clarity and there still isn’t any,” said Jack Ablin of Cresset Capital, who estimated that the market now sees a greater than 50% chance of a US recession.

Stocks have been in free fall since Trump’s “Liberation Day” event announcing tariffs on major US trading partners last Wednesday.

White House officials have signalled openness to deal-making while blasting China for enacting sharp retaliatory tariffs in response to the new US levies.

Trump plans to impose another 50% duty on Chinese goods at midnight, bringing the additional rate on Chinese products to 104%.

All 11 sectors in the S&P 500 finished the day in the red, while most of the Dow was also in negative territory.

Especially big losers in the blue-chip index included Apple, down 5% and Nike, down 4.2%.

But UnitedHealth Group surged 5.4% after the Trump administration finalised a rule boosting payments to insurers under the government Medicare programme.

-additional reporting NZ Herald