US equity markets took one on the chin after President Trump's decision to impose global tariffs on steel and aluminum imports - Dow down -420-points or 1.68% to log its third 1%+ decline in-a-row - the last time that happened was in January 2016 when China's economy was dominating the headlines. The broader S&P500 -36-points or -1.33%, NASDAQ -1.27%. President Trump announced he would roll out a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10% tariff on aluminium imports next week - "We're going to build our steel industry back; we're going to build our aluminium industry back." Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was also back in focus as he returned to Capitol Hill to appear before the Senate Banking Committee overnight to conclude his testimony around the semi-annual Monetary Policy Report. Powell adopted a less hawkish tone to the one he adopted on Tuesday, telling the Senate Banking Committee he saw no sign of significant wage inflation albeit he expected wages to rise in the future. Powell said that there is "no evidence the economy is currently overheating" and that to prolong the recovery the central bank believes "gradual" hikes are the best course of action. Overarching all of this was Vladimir Putin talking up Russia's nuclear capabilities. The US dollar reversed earlier gains to be a touch lower around 77.59.
