In his latest book, essayist and political advisor Giuliano da Empoli states, The hour of the predators (Ediciones 62), that "chaos is no longer the weapon of insurgents but the hallmark of power." In the book, he explains that new world leaders like Trump or Putin act as agents of chaos because it is the way to consolidate their authority in a world where there are no rules but brute force. Donald Trump's actions in the last few hours perfectly fit this definition.

Thursday's session saw a further surge in oil and gas prices following the Israeli bombing of the South Pars gas facilities (the largest in the world). The price of Brent crude – the European benchmark – has risen by more than 3%, climbing back above $110. In fact, it reached a high of $119 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude – the US benchmark – is up nearly 1.50%, to $97 per barrel. Meanwhile, the price of natural gas on the Dutch TTF market – the European benchmark – is around €62 per megawatt-hour (MWh), representing an increase of more than 13% during the session and nearly doubling its price since the start of the war.

Oil prices remain above $100 a barrel in the wake of the Iran-Iraq War. Brent crude, the European benchmark, although it experienced a drop of around 1% on Monday, remains well above the $72 mark it held before the US and Israeli attack on Iran. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, the US benchmark, followed the same trend, falling by around 2.60% to $94.30 a barrel. In fact, Brent reached a high of $106 on Monday. The rise came after US President Donald Trump warned on Sunday that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would face a "very bad future" if allies did not cooperate to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway for international oil trade. Despite these statements, the price of crude oil has turned downward, stabilizing around $102 a barrel. The price increase occurred even though the International Energy Agency (IEA) decided last week to release 400 million barrels from strategic reserves, the largest release in its history, to help reduce tensions in oil prices. Trump also lifted the embargo on Russian oil for a month, despite opposition from the European Union, to ease crude oil prices.

Trump's word is worthlessBut it does come at a price, the price we all must pay for his decisions. Aware that The war with Iran has driven up oil prices and lowered stock markets.That is, that his voters have to pay more for gasoline and that his friends are losing billions in the stock market, Trump took the floor last night to say that The war is "virtually over" And that they are far ahead of the agenda they had set, that Iran "has already fired all it was supposed to fire." And Trump's words had the desired effect: the stock markets rose this morning and the price of oil fell. If this is a fluke that won't make a summer, Trump doesn't care. Yesterday he went for the coup, but he knows there are two things ordinary Americans hate: paying higher gas prices and having inflation erode their purchasing power, all because of a war that lacks the support of the vast majority. Consider that these days oil has reached its highest price in the last three and a half years, specifically in the summer of 2022, months after the war in Ukraine began, and that the cost of living is shaping up to be the major issue in the November elections. And we all know that when oil goes up, everything goes up.

Israel's attack on Iran early Friday morning did not go unnoticed by oil or the stock markets, as is typical whenever the conflict in the Middle East escalates. The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil soared by more than 10%, and the main European markets opened Friday's session with declines, which consolidated at the end of the session. European markets closed down around 1%. In contrast, gold hit monthly highs because investors see it as a safe haven.

Everything keeps turning around Trump's tariffs, and since their system of government is chaos, yesterday decided to suspend the new rates for 90 days to everyone except China, where it has made products even more expensive with a punitive 125% tariff. Why did it decide to do this? Well, according to the Washington Post, because he was watching on TV Republican senators and economists who, despite being on his side, were worried about the consequences, made a few calls and unexpectedly decided on the moratorium. Trump negotiates from chaos, governs from chaos. The result? Today the stock market soared. However, the trade war with China continues, which is the Chinese way of arguing about who rules the world, of putting America first; well, putting himself first. But be careful, because the 10% tariff that is still in place is very difficult for companies that export to the United States to bear.

Donald Trump's new global tariffs went into effect midnight in Washington, including 104% on Chinese products and 20% on those from the European Union. Stock markets have experienced widespread losses since the start of the day in both Europe and Asian markets. The US president celebrated the official start of the trade war he himself initiated and, in a speech before the National Republican Congressional Committee, defended his plan for reciprocal tariffs as already working. "I'm telling you, these countries [those affected by the new tariffs] are calling us to lick my ass. They're dying to make a deal. Please, please, let's make a deal, I'll do anything," he claimed they told him.

Although banks have led the stock market crash After Donald Trump announced the new tariffs, the Bank of Spain does not foresee a liquidity problem in the Spanish or European financial sector. "The liquidity ratio [of the financial sector] is at maximum levels," recalled Mercedes Olano, Director General of Supervision of the Bank of Spain, during the presentation of the 2024 supervisory report on Tuesday. "We do not foresee a liquidity problem [in the sector] in the short or medium term," she added. The words of the head of supervision of financial institutions provide some relief after the stock markets, including the Ibex 35, have experienced dark days due to the impact that the trade war may have on the economy.

US President Donald Trump has threatened China with an additional 50% tariff if the Asian country does not back down from its trade retaliation. Last week, the US president announced a 34% tariff on Chinese imports, which, added to the existing 20% tariffs, already threatens to amount to a tax of around 54% on products from the Asian giant. China's response had been to respond to the new tariffs with a similar tax (34%) on US imports.

Fears remain in financial markets around the world after US President Donald Trump declared his tariff war last week. Asian stock markets closed sharply lower on Monday due to fears of a new global recession, and European markets were also not immune to this downward trend at the opening session, despite slightly moderating their declines starting midday. However, US markets, which had opened Monday sharply lower, managed to salvage the day with minimal losses, and in some cases, positive gains.

Fear has taken hold in the stock markets. The declines experienced by the indexes, which began on Thursday in the US and have spread across the globe, reveal that no one expected US President Donald Trump to dare to play with fire in a manner that has little to do with economic rationality. The day after the delirious announcement of tariffs by the leader of the world's leading power, investors, far from calming down, have become even more nervous. And we'll see if Monday continues a situation that, in the worst-case scenario, would turn into panic.

The world's major financial markets have suffered heavy losses following the battery of tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump, while in the United States, markets also closed with widespread declines. The New York Dow Jones Industrial Average fell around 3.98%, the S&P 500, which represents the country's leading companies, lost 4.84%, and the Nasdaq technology index lost 5.97%. Among the major technology companies, the losses were more pronounced: Apple closed the day down 9.25% and Amazon down 8.98%.