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Hedge funds capitulate, investors brace for margin calls in market rout

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI/NEW YORK (Reuters) -Some hedge funds say they are offloading all or most of their holdings of stocks as U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war wipes out trillions of dollars of market value and forces them to curtail trading using borrowed cash. In the three trading days following Trump's announcement of broad reciprocal tariffs on almost all countries, stock markets across the world have plummeted, and bonds have become both a haven and a bet on rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, turning on their head market assumptions before Trump took office. The selloff on Wall Street has been vicious as investors that bet on U.S. exceptionalism and economic might stampede out of its markets.

Mideast stock markets tumble as US tariffs and low oil prices squeeze energy-producing nations

Middle East stock markets tumbled Monday as they struggled with the dual hit of the United States' new tariff policy and a sharp decline in oil prices, squeezing energy-producing nations that rely on those sales to power their economies and government spending. Benchmark Brent crude is down by nearly 15% over the last five days of trading, with a barrel of oil costing just over $64.

European bank shares on course for bear market

An index of European banking <.SX7P shares fell 4.8% on Monday, falling more than 20% from recent closing high and leaving it on course to confirm it is in a bear market. The decline extended into a third day as U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs ignited fears of an all-out trade war and a global economic recession. Together with the losses over the past two trading days, the index had fallen by more than 18% on Monday.

BOJ says uncertainty for Japan economy growing as Trump tariffs rock markets

TOKYO (Reuters) -The Bank of Japan said uncertainty over Japan's economy was growing as some firms worried about the hit to profits from higher U.S. duties, a sign that President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs risk upending a moderate economic recovery. One of the BOJ's branch managers described the Trump-induced turmoil as "unlike any other shock" with the impact on the economy hard to quantify, suggesting the uncertainty will keep the central bank in a holding pattern for the time being. In a quarterly meeting of its regional branch managers on Monday, the BOJ maintained its assessment for all nine regions of the country to say they were either recovering or picking up moderately.

No Fed 'put' when it's unclear which way the economy may pivot

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has sent strong messages when he felt they were needed, going on television to pledge maximum support for the economy when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, using a terse 2022 speech for a stern message about inflation, and jumping in to backstop financial markets after the 2023 failure of Silicon Valley Bank. But with Powell and the Fed left guessing just as much as the rest of the world about where President Donald Trump is taking the economy, the Fed chair indicated on Friday this is not the moment for a "Fed put" - Wall Street's term for actions to shore up free-falling stock markets - even as household wealth evaporates with real risks to economic activity. "There's a lot of waiting and seeing going on, including by us, and that just seems like the right thing to do at a time of elevated uncertainty," Powell said, making it apparent the Fed won't be rushing to cut interest rates as it would if there was a crisis calling for an obvious central bank response.