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Here’s what you need to know today

• US markets continued to fall on Friday. US President Trump announced his tariffs on Wednesday afternoon (US time), and in the two days since the S&P 500 has fallen 11%. (Bloomberg)
  
  

• Some of the hardest hit stocks over the past two days include:
  - Apparel and clothing with factories in Asia: Lululemon (down 7%), Nike (down 12%)
  - Retailers bracing for tariff-driven price hikes: Walmart (down 8%), Best Buy (down 20%), Target (down 10%)
  - Travel stocks on the fear of less travel from struggling consumers: United Airlines (down 20%), Delta (down 15%), Norwegian Cruise Line (down 20%)
  
  

• America’s biggest stocks were not immune. The Magnificent 7 are all down: Apple down 17%, Microsoft down 6%, Nvidia down 16%, Amazon down 13%, Alphabet down 8%, Meta down 14% and Tesla down 17%.
  
  

• Australia’s stock market had its worst week since July 2022, with the ASX 200 down 4%, and the futures market suggest the ASX 200 will fall 4.3% when it opens today (Monday morning). So prepare but don’t panic. Remember, years from now, this market fall will look like a great buying opportunity. (ABC | AFR)
  
  

• China has retaliated against America’s tariffs of 34% on Chinese imports. China will match America's tariffs and charge 34% on all US imports as they enter China. Trump responded on Truth Social in all-caps, “CHINA PLAYED IT WRONG”. (The Economist)
  
  

• Australia’s election continues with Labor promising $2.3 billion to offer 30% rebates on household batteries. Today, one-in-three houses have rooftop solar, but only one-in-forty have batteries. (AFR)
  
  

• This weekend was the deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok’s American operations or see the app get banned in America. However, President Trump signed an order to extend the deadline by another 75 days. (Politico)
  
  

• Japan’s Nintendo announced it has paused pre-orders of its Switch 2 gaming console in America, as it assesses “the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions”. Japan was hit with a 24% tariff by President Trump. (Newsweek)
  
  

• Britain’s Jaguar Land Rover announced it will pause shipments of its British-made cars to America for one month. The UK is now subject to Trump’s global minimum 10% tariff and Jaguar Land Rover are also subject to the additional 25% tariffs on all automotive imports into the US. (ABC)
  
  

• Microsoft is reportedly delaying or stopped several data centre projects around the world, which is being seen as a warning sign around the expected level of AI infrastructure spend. (Bloomberg)

What the…?

The world is reeling from Trump’s tariffs. And when we say the world, we mean the world. Including the uninhabited Heard Island and McDonald Island that are now subject to 10% tariffs. (The Guardian)

The penguins living on Heard Island were disappointed. As we had some fun with on our Instagram:

Investing is a lifelong journey

Here’s what you can learn today.

Doesn’t the stock market crash?

Given what is happening in markets, we thought it is the right time to share this exceprt from our first book Get Started Investing. Pick it up on Amazon, or wherever you buy books.

We’ve all heard the stories of market crashes—1929 Great Depression, 2008 Global Financial Crisis—there have been certain events when the markets have fallen and investors have lost money. Far less reported is the fact that the market has always recovered from these falls.

The reason the market recovers is that the companies that survive the downturn continue to get more productive, more innovative and more valuable over time. Individual companies will go bankrupt; technology will disrupt industries—but overall the market as a whole continues marching upwards.

Between 1900 and 2018, the Australian stock market had 23 years where it went down and 96 years where it went up: 81% of the years were good years.

It’s not just that the stock market recovers from these crashes. Throughout history, time and time again, the stock market recovers from its fall and then keeps growing.

One of our favourite examples of this is the US stock market during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. If you had invested in 2007, right before the market started falling:

• by February 2009 you would have lost half of your money and be feeling pretty ready to give up on investing

• by 2013, you would have been back to even (that would have been a long six years!)

• by 2019, you would have doubled your money.

Looking for a calm, long-term investing resource to take your mind off the day-to-day headlines? Pick up Get Started Investing wherever you buy books.

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