5 world market themes for the week ahead

Global investors have yearned for clarity over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, but now they have it, they don't much like what they see.

As part of his «Liberation Day» on April 2, Trump slapped hefty tariffs on major trading partners, plunging markets into turmoil, just as investors parse through the first new quarterly earnings, along with Chinese inflation data, waiting for the rest of the world to respond.

Here is a look at the week ahead from Rae Wee in Singapore, Lewis Krauskopf in New York, Dhara Ranasinghe, Libby George and Amanda Cooper in London.

1. UPSIDE DOWN

Trump's tariffs have panicked investors, who now believe a U.S. recession could happen, jettisoning U.S. stocks in one of the most aggressive sell-offs in the past 30 years and hunting for safe-haven gems. The dollar has typically been the shelter of choice. But the extent of the fear over what damage the tariffs might do to the U.S. economy and the U.S. administration's increasingly isolationist tendencies has left the dollar in the dust. Gold, the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc have all soared along with Treasury prices.

Live Events

Not content with turning the world order on its head, Trump and Co are turning markets on their head too and investors are having to find new ways to play it.

2. NEXT, RETALIATION DAY

Global markets have felt the impact of «Liberation Day,» now they have to brace for what many are already calling «Retaliation Day» from trade partners in response to the highest U.S. tariffs in over a century.

Signs