Trump has officially arrived in Zurich now and is headed to Davos next for the World Economic Forum (WEF). As a reminder, his special address is still scheduled for 1330 GMT. So, it won’t be long now and media opportunities will have to be brief if Trump is to stick with the agenda today.
As we await his address, equities are starting to feel the nerves and anxiousness again now. S&P 500 futures are down 0.2% with Nasdaq futures down 0.4%. And in Europe, the DAX is down 1.0% on the day with the CAC 40 index also lower by 0.4% currently.
All this comes after some added tension in Davos ahead of Trump’s arrival.
US commerce secretary Lutnick was among the list of speakers addressing an invitation-only meet of high profile guests. And he reportedly took that opportunity to lambast Europe’s energy policies and criticise the continent’s poor competitiveness on the global stage.
The Bloomberg report adds that Lutnick was even heckled and booed on the stage, with some people interpreting his comments as a hit back against European officials’ public remarks at Davos in defending the bloc’s unity.
According to the people who attended, Lutnick was so insufferable in his criticism of Europe that it caused ECB president Lagarde to stand up and leave the room mid-speech.
If that’s a sign of the kind of address that Trump is going to deliver later, it pretty much hints at a continued breakdown in communication and escalating tensions between the US and the EU – at least for today.
For now, let’s just wait and see what Trump has to offer. A senior White House official has come out to say that Trump’s address will be focusing on his ‘America first’ push but he might touch on Greenland and Venezuela.
As for his pick of Fed chair, the official says that Trump will not be disclosing that in Davos as he hasn’t made up his mind yet on who the top candidate should be.
This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.