The world tariff war that the president of the United States has undertaken, Donald Trump, caused collapse at the end of the week in the vast majority of world financial markets. The main bags such as Wall Street, the Stoxx 600 Paneuropeo Index and the Mexican Stock Exchange suffered strong setbacks, which hit the exchange rate and boosted the value of gold as a safe asset before an uncertain economic scenario and a marked risk of stagflation of US finances.
At the close of the exchange day on Friday, the last of the week, the interbank exchange rate reported by the Bank of Mexico (BDEM) stood at 20.41 units per green ticket, which represented a depreciation of 0.5 percent or a loss of 11 cents compared to yesterday’s closure.
During this week’s last session, the exchange rate touched a maximum of 20.46 pesos per dollar and a minimum of 20.33 units per green ticket.
On Monday, the interbank exchange rate reported by the Central Bank quoted at 20.05 pesos per dollar, with what at the end of the week, the national currency lost 1.7 percent or the equivalent of 36 cents.
In the middle of the week, President Trump announced that he will apply tariffs to cars that are not manufactured in the United States and some auto parts, all under Section 232 of the Commercial Expansion Law of 1962, on the occasion of national security. These measures, of which it is still unknown if Mexico will be included or not, will enter from April 3 for cars and for auto parts at a date not after May 3 of this year.
Meanwhile, Wall Street actions fell on Friday because the tension signals between US consumers joined the fears that the United States is heading towards a staplation episode (high inflation, stagnation of economic growth and high unemployment), reported the specialized English medium Financial Times.
A report by the Department of Commerce showed that the Index of Personal Consumer Expenses (PCE) rose in February in line with what the economists surveyed by Reuters expected. However, excluding volatile items such as food and energy, it grew more than expected, while consumer spending rebounded after falling in January.
Inflation and concerns for tariffs fell strongly the actions of the most valuable NYSE companies, with Apple, Microsoft and Amazon losing ground, while in the week, the S&P 500 accumulated a decrease of 1.53 percent, the Nasdaq descended 2.59 percent and the Dow Jones receded 0.96 percent.
Similarly, the Asian and European bags expanded their losses on Friday, while a safe asset as gold marked another historical maxim, since the last tariff save of the American president Donald Trump fueled the fears of a total commercial war.
The Nikkei Japanese index fell almost 2 percent, led by the strong decline of the Toyota and Honda automobile giants, while the South Korean Kopsi, which includes Hyundai and Kia, subtracted 2 percent. The Stoxx 600 paneurpeo also dropped, with the automotive sector and auto parts pushing a weekly decline of 2 percent and the sixth negative.
The European reference index backed a minimum of two weeks on Thursday, after 25 percent tariffs on car imports in the United States cause nervousness before the deadline of April 2 to impose reciprocal tariffs on Washington’s commercial partners.