Trump’s Tariffs Plunge Global Markets Into a Sea of Red [DealBook]
Global markets plunged on Tuesday after U.S. tariffs went into effect on roughly $1.5 trillion worth of imports from Canada, Mexico and China, with another, and even broader, wave set to kick in as soon as next week.
China and Canada have already responded, with Beijing targeting the American heartland with sweeping levies on imported food and halting log and soybean shipments from select U.S. companies. Mexico is expected to retaliate, too…. Stocks in much of Asia and Europe fell on Tuesday, after the S&P 500 yesterday suffered its worst one-day decline this year. U.S. stock futures were down slightly on Tuesday.
Tariff War Risks Sinking World Into New Great Depression, International Chamber of Commerce Warns [WSJ]
“Our deep concern is that this could be the start of a downward spiral that puts us in 1930s trade-war territory,” said Andrew Wilson, deputy secretary-general of the ICC, which promotes global business and trade. High tariffs on foreign goods imported into the U.S. in that decade contributed to a damaging global recession. The downturn plunged nearly a third of the global workforce into unemployment and slashed production at heavyweight industrial economies Germany and the U.S. by half…. The likelihood of a similarly severe blow to the global economy is high, Wilson said in an interview Tuesday. “Right now it’s a coin-flip,” he said. “It comes down to whether the U.S. administration is willing to rethink the utility of tariffs.”
Balyasny Tops Millennium and Citadel During February Turmoil [Bloomberg via Yahoo!]
Balyasny’s hedge fund rose 0.9% during the month…. Millennium Management lost 1.3% in February while Citadel fell 1.7%…. The pain of some of the multi-strategy managers was shared by US-focused funds that bet on rising and falling stocks, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. clients employing that strategy on average down 1.4% in February….
Sycamore Nears Acquisition of Walgreens Boots Alliance [Bloomberg via Yahoo!]
Sycamore was closing in on a deal to acquire Walgreens for $11.30 a share to $11.40 a share in cash, or about $10 billion.
A takeover could lead to the breakup of Walgreens, which runs business including UK pharmacy chain Boots and US health-care provider VillageMD….
Amazon-backed AI firm Anthropic valued at $61.5 billion after latest round [CNBC]
The $3.5 billion round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, and other investors included Salesforce Ventures, Cisco Investments, Fidelity Management & Research Co., General Catalyst, D1 Capital Partners and Jane Street, among others…. In December, Anthropic’s revenue hit an annualized $1 billion, which was an increase of roughly 10 times year over year….
Treasury ends enforcement of business ownership database meant to stop shell company formation [AP]
“With one tweet, the Administration has contradicted fifteen years of bipartisan work by Congress to end the scourge of anonymous shell companies – which are a favorite tool of our nation’s global adversaries and criminals including fentanyl traffickers, money launderers, and tax cheats.”
