US Stock Futures, Dollar Retreat On Trade Jitters: Markets Wrap

US equity-index futures edged down along with the dollar after President Donald Trump dialed-up trade tensions once again with a 50% tariff on copper and issued a new round of letters imposing higher levies on countries.

Contracts for the S&P 500 index fell 0.3% and a gauge of the dollar dipped by 0.1% Thursday. Treasuries and Asian shares were little changed. Bitcoin held near a record high it hit on Wednesday. Earlier, Brazilian assets plunged after Trump announced new tariff letters, including imposing 50% levy on goods from the country. Demand at Japan’s 20-year government bond auction was lower than the average over the past 12 months.

Copper prices moved higher after Trump said the US would begin levying a 50% tariff on copper imports from Aug. 1, confirming a move, which will hurt producers who rely on the industrial material. Copper futures on the London Metal Exchange — the global benchmark — gained 0.4% to $9,664.50 a ton, while contracts on Comex rose almost 3%.

“Latest tariff news continues to look like further inflationary acts of self-harm to the US economy, which lend themselves to a continuation of the ‘sell American’ theme,” said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank in Sydney.

Trump has signaled a renewed determination to push ahead with his plans to heavily tax foreign imports after pausing his so-called ‘reciprocal’ tariffs until July 9. Even so, investors have been piling back into stocks - the S&P 500 hit a record last week - as traders brush off fears that the levies would lead to a meaningful slowdown for the global economy or company earnings.

Global producers have raced to get ahead of Trump’s planned copper levies, including in recent days shifting deliveries to Hawaii and Puerto Rico to cut shipment times.

Investors bearish on US assets had sold the dollar as part of the ‘Sell America’ trade. A gauge of the currency has declined 8.7% this year.

“The selloff in the dollar in response to the copper tariff announcement suggests the sell America narrative is still intact, at least in the currency markets,” said Carol Kong, currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. “Unless the Trump administration returns to more conventional policy and policy delivery, the sell America narrative can continue to weigh on the dollar for longer.”

Trump also said Wednesday he would levy a 30% rate on Algeria, Libya, Iraq and Sri Lanka, with 25% duties on products from Brunei and Moldova and a 20% rate on goods from the Philippines. The levies were largely in line with rates Trump had initially announced in April against those countries, though Iraq’s duties are down from 39% and Sri Lanka’s reduced from 44%.

Brazil’s 50% rate marked one of the highest levies announced so far, and is set to hit in August. Trump cited the treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro in his letter to the nation, calling on authorities to drop charges against him over an alleged coup attempt. Brazil will respond to the US using its reciprocity law, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in response.

To be sure, even with the recent increase in tariff angst, stocks have run up. The MSCI All Country World Index hit a record last week and the S&P 500 closed Wednesday near the record achieved last week.

“At the moment the market is not roiled because it’s looking through and it’s not believing that the tariffs are final,” said Nadia Grant, head of global equity at BNP Paribas Asset Management.

Back in Japan, demand at the bond auction was lower as an upcoming election highlights the likelihood that the nation’s sovereign debt will keep rising.

The Ministry of Finance has adjusted its issuance to reduce the amount of longer-maturity bonds it sells, which has shown some signs of curbing bond-market volatility. Yet investors are concerned about the market impact of rising debt levels, which are in the spotlight as politicians seek to woo voters with more government spending or tax cuts ahead of an election of the Upper House later this month.

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• S&P 500 futures fell 0.3% as of 1:42 p.m. Tokyo time

• Japan’s Topix fell 0.7%

• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7%

• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was little changed

• The Shanghai Composite rose 0.4%

• Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.2%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed

• The euro rose 0.1% to $1.1733

• The Japanese yen was little changed at 146.28 per dollar

• The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1819 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 0.4% to $111,166.2

• Ether rose 1.4% to $2,778.7

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.33%

• Japan’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 1.485%

• Australia’s 10-year yield declined seven basis points to 4.27%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.1% to $68.47 a barrel

• Spot gold rose 0.1% to $3,317.31 an ounce