How Trumponomics has shaken global markets
PARIS
U.S. President Donald Trump has taken just a few months since his election to upend global financial markets with his economic policies.
Many investors are pulling money out of the United States, the mighty dollar has lost its lustre and Wall Street is being outpaced by European stock markets.
After years of global dominance, U.S. stocks are feeling the heat and Europe is the main beneficiary.
Wall Street's S&P 500 index has gained just 2 percent since the start of the year, compared with 16 percent for Frankfurt's main index.
Growth at the exchanges in London (8 percent) and Paris (3 percent) is also outstripping Wall Street.
Kevin Thozet from the investment firm Carmignac pinned the blame firmly on Trump.
The president's flip-flopping on tariffs had created a "high level of uncertainty" about their potential impact on growth, Thozet told AFP.
Dollar slides
The dollar has lost 10 percent of its value against the euro in the past six months, "its worst performance in 30 years", according to Robert Farago, an analyst at the British investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown.
Trump's tariffs are the main culprit but the global reserve currency is also suffering from concerns about the size of the US debt -- exacerbated by a budget proposal from the president that many analysts say will be hugely expensive.
While some have suggested the Chinese yuan could become a dollar alternative, ECB chief Christine Lagarde has touted the euro, discussing in May its potentially greater "international role".
But any currency attempting to topple the dollar faces plenty of challenges.
"The yuan is not convertible, and the euro is too fragmented," said Jean Lemierre, chairman of the board of directors of BNP Paribas.
Winners: Gold, crypto
Investors have long regarded gold as the ultimate safe harbour in a crisis, and the clamour for the metal has seen its value jump by almost 30 percent since the start of the year.
Major central banks have also had a hand in pushing up the price, as they look to gold as a more sure bet than dollars to hold in their reserves.
Meanwhile, Trump has leant heavily into cryptocurrencies with investments of his own and official measures to bring the assets into the mainstream.
Bitcoin passed $100,000 for the first time just after the U.S. election, increasing almost 60 percent in a year.
[HH] Oil uncertainties
Trump made it a priority to bring down oil prices so that U.S. inflation would come down.
Crude oil fell below $60 per barrel in April, its lowest price since 2021.
But that was because investors spooked by Trump's tariffs were anticipating weaker demand worldwide if economies slowed.
The military escalation between Israel and Iran has seen prices climb again to around $75 a barrel.
However, on June 20 oil prices tumbled after Trump said he would mull over the next two weeks whether to join Israel's attacks on Iran, providing some much-needed relief to markets.
