The mining giants had a mixed morning, with BHP trading flat, while Fortescue and Rio Tinto rose 1.8 per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the industrial sector was weighed down by losses from Qantas (down 1 per cent), while Transurban (up 0.4 per cent) saw a modest gain.

In New York overnight, US stocks rose to record highs after Trump’s latest talk about tariffs created only some ripples on Wall Street, even if they could roil the global economy were they to take effect.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.6 per cent to top the all-time high it set a couple of weeks ago. The Dow Jones added 0.3 per cent to its own record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite gained 0.6 per cent as Microsoft and Big Tech led the way.

Other international markets were down, but mostly only modestly, after President-elect Trump said he plans to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China as soon as he takes office.

But the movements were mostly modest. Stock indexes were down 0.1 per cent in Shanghai and nearly flat in Hong Kong, while Canada’s main index edged down by less than 0.1 per cent.

Trump has often praised the use of tariffs, but investors are weighing whether his latest threat will actually become policy or is just an opening point for negotiations. For now, the market seems to be taking it more as the latter.

Unless the United States can prepare alternatives for the autos, energy products and other goods that come from Mexico, Canada and China, such tariffs would raise the price of imported items all at once and make households poorer, according to Carl Weinberg and Rubeela Farooqi, economists at High Frequency Economics.

They would also hurt profit margins for US companies, while raising the threat of retaliatory tariffs by other countries.

General Motors sank 9 per cent, and Ford Motor fell 2.6 per cent because both import automobiles from Mexico. Constellation Brands, which sells Modelo and other Mexican beer brands in the United States, dropped 3.3 per cent. The value of the Mexican peso fell 1.8 per cent against the US dollar.

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The talk about tariffs overshadowed another mixed set of profit reports from US retailers that answered few questions about how much more shoppers can keep spending. They’ll need to stay resilient after helping the economy avoid a recession, despite the high interest rates imposed by the Fed to get inflation under control.

Big Tech stocks also helped prop up US indexes. Gains of 3.2 per cent for Amazon and 2.2 per cent for Microsoft were the two strongest forces lifting the S&P 500.

In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady following their big drop from a day before driven by relief following Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury inched up to 4.29 per cent from 4.28 per cent late Monday, but it’s still well below the 4.41 per cent level where it ended last week.

In the crypto market, bitcoin continued to pull back after topping $US99,000 for the first time late last week. It’s since dipped back toward $US91,000, according to CoinDesk. It’s a sharp turnaround from the bonanza that initially took over the crypto market following Trump’s election.

With AP

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