TRADING DAY-Investors find auto motive for caution

Trump escalated the global trade wars with his plans to slap aggressive tariffs on auto imports from next week.

There was no uniform flight to safety, however, even though gold leaped to a new high, as mounting inflation concerns pushed up Treasury bond yields. My column below shines a light on the rather surprising resilience shown by currencies of the countries that will be hit hardest by Trump's auto tariffs.

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Today's Key Market Moves

* Gold rises more than 1% to a fresh high of $3,059/oz.

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* A late wave of selling ensures Wall Street's big three indices end lower. Under the hood there were some bigger moves in automaker shares, with General Motors down 7.7% and Ford down 3.9%.

* Mexico's peso falls 1% and the Canadian dollar falls 0.3%, sold off on the U.S. auto tariff news.

* Longer-dated U.S. Treasury yields rise to the highest in over a month — the 10-year yield touches 4.4%, and the 30-year yield reaches 4.75%.

* 10-year UK gilt yield rises above 4.80% for the first time since mid-January, as investors cast a more critical eye on the UK fiscal outlook post-fiscal statement.

* U.S. copper futures slide 2.2% from the previous day's record high of 5.37/lb.

Investors find automotive for caution

Trump's latest tariff salvo drew widespread international criticism and weighed heavily on global markets on Thursday.

It's not just tariffs grabbing U.S.