U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war is the reason for stock markets plummeting around the world, according to a Dalhousie University accounting professor.
“Over the last two trading sessions in the U.S., the NASDAQ has fallen 20 per cent from its peak and the Dow has fallen 10 per cent from its recent peak. So together over the last two days, trading days it’s been $5.4 trillion wiped off the market,” Lin says.
Canada’s TSX is also down to levels not seen since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is a beast of a different nature,” says Lin, who doesn’t expect to see a quick turnaround. “Any money that you need within the next five years doesn’t belong in the stock market for obvious reasons at this point.”
That’s not the news retirees want to hear. A survey done by the Canadian Association of Retired Persons shows close to 70 per cent of seniors have their investments in stocks and bonds.
“This is really affecting them, really worrying them. It’s creating, in fact, a real mental health problem amongst seniors. Just worried about something that they can do nothing about,” Bill VanGorder says.
“As a country, we are at a moment of national importance,” says Pascal Chan, strategic policy vice president for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. “We need to be united, we need to focus on our national interest. So what we know is that we are well overdue when it comes to getting our own house in order, and that means getting the job done on internal trade, expanding our trade relationships, as well as making sure that our regulatory approach is conducive to attracting the capital and making Canada as competitive as possible in the global economy.”
