Summary:

• Trump sinks equities with announcement of new tariffs

• German Finance Ministry sees German growth accelerating in Q2

• Financial leaders of G20 countries will meet in Buenos Aires this weekend

Donald Trump announcement of $500 billion tariffs on Chinese goods doomed equities from the Old Continent. Moreover, Wall Street futures also point for a lower opening in the US. USD and AUD are the biggest underperformers among major while NZD and CAD gain against its other peers. On the commodity front we are observing firm advance of platinum and palladium as well as industrial metals. In today’s calendar only data from Canada is scheduled but one should be aware of G20 meeting that will be held over the weekend.

One of the most curious news regarding coins is that some celebrities from the cryptocurrency world appeared on the Fortune’s 40 Under 40 List. Brian Armstrong, a co-founder of Coinbase, occupies the 20th place. Vitalik Buterin, a founder of Ethereum coin, occupies the 22th.

The German Finance Ministry made some comments on the domestic growth in second quarter of the year. The institution said that the German economic growth will most likely accelerate from the 0.3% seen in the first quarter. External risks are the biggest danger to the German economy, especially rise of protectionist tendencies.

Yesterday’s remarks of the US President Donald Trump with respect to the Federal Reserve were pretty unprecedented. Trump openly criticized the US central bank for hiking interest rates which are seeing the US dollar much stronger over the recent weeks. He said that the strong currency puts the US economy at a disadvantage versus others.

During the weekend the G20 meeting will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Finance ministers and central bank presidents of the Group-of-20 will meet for the first time since the escalation of the trade conflict between China and the US in the second quarter of the year.