"We're getting a short-term rally at the beginning of the week," says Jon Arnell, investment manager at von Euler & Partners, in a comment to TT.
The world's stock exchanges have been tossed between ups and downs lately. Trump has continuously delivered new announcements about the sweeping tariffs against the rest of the world, particularly China. Once again, he is forced to back down from parts of them.
On Saturday, it emerged that import tariffs on various electronics are being exempted, mainly consumer electronics such as phones and computers. Most of these goods are imported from China, which the US has imposed 145-percent tariffs on.
Blow
For Apple, the iPhone manufacturer, but also for other American tech giants producing much of their products in China, it would have been a blow. Analysts have described the tariffs as worse than the effects of the pandemic. American consumers would have been hit by significantly rising prices.
So, the Trump administration backed down, probably after clear pressure from the tech industry.
According to the analysis firm Rand China Research Center, the exemptions from tariffs on electronics account for around 390 billion dollars (3,900 billion kronor) in American imports per year, writes news agency Bloomberg. 100 billion dollars, or approximately 1,000 billion kronor, of that import comes from China, of which mobile phones account for 420 billion kronor.
Total electronics imports from China account for 22 percent of all US imports from the world's second-largest economy.
This is a big hole in the American tariff wall that will spare companies like Apple, and consumers of computers and phones from price shocks, says Gerard DiPippo at Rand China Research Center to Bloomberg.
"Big hole in the tariff wall"
Apple is the big player. Since Trump launched the original tariff package last week, Apple's stock has collapsed like a house of cards. On Monday, there will likely be a significant recovery.
A big gift from above for the American tech giants, which weigh heavily on the world's stock exchanges, notes Jon Arnell. Even though great uncertainty remains, the announcement is likely to have clear stock exchange effects on Monday.
"The Stockholm stock exchange should, like Asia and Europe, initially rise," he says.
