Stock exchanges, Black Friday. Wall Street closes sharply lower due to tariffs and US jobs. Milan (-2.5%) knocked out by banks

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Black Friday for the European stock markets, which close the last session of the week in heavy decline. The stock markets reacted to the new tariffs announced overnight by US President Donald Trump. The tycoon threatened, from 7 August, tariffs from 10% to 41% for dozens of countries, confirmed 15% tariffs for the EU, while Canada - which failed to reach an agreement with Washington - will pay a 35% tariff on its goods. Also weighing down the already nervous climate was the below-expected US jobs data, which also fuelled selling on Wall Street.

Thus, Milan's FTSE MIB ends on a downward trend, falling below the psychological threshold of 40,000 points.

Lower-than-estimated July employment report in the US. Last month, 73,000 jobs (excluding the agricultural sector) were created compared to the previous month, whereas analysts had expected an increase of 100,000 jobs. This was the 55th consecutive month with a positive count. The unemployment rate rose from 4.1 % to 4.2 %, in line with expectations.

Wall Street closed sharply lower due to tariffs and US employment data. The Dow Jones dropped 1.23 per cent to 43,588.58 points. The Nasdaq lost 2.24 per cent to 20,650.13 points and the S&P 500 dropped 1.60 per cent to 6,238.01 points. Meanwhile, the market reckons with a series of tariffs increases imposed on dozens of countries. On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced thetariff regimes for countries that have not yet reached a trade agreement with Washington before the 1 August deadline. The taxes range from 10% to 50%, as Trump seeks to reshape the global trade landscape and has included key US trading partners such as India and Taiwan. A 35% tariff on Canada goes into effect today, but the implementation of all other tariffs will be delayed by seven days, paving the way for further negotiations. Investors fear thatthe tariffs could reignite inflationary pressure and delay interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Since taking office, Trump has repeatedly attacked Fed Chairman Jerome Powell for not cutting rates, but Powell remains cautious in view of the possible impact of tariffs on prices and employment.

Meanwhile, the earnings season continues after the tech giants Apple and Amazon released their results on Thursday at the close of the markets. In detail, the e-commerce giant disappointed expectations on the growth of its cloud computing division, while the Cupertino-based company reported higher-than-estimated profits.