Why does this matter to me?

There was a dramatic rally on global equity markets late yesterday after President Trump ordered a postponement of retaliatory tariffs on countries that were introduced on Wednesday. However, markets still remained well down on where they were a month ago. Unfortunately, despite this reprieve, much damage to business confidence in both the US and global economies has already been inflicted. This confidence is unlikely to be restored soon amid ongoing uncertainty and the maintenance of baseline tariffs up 10%, as well as an exorbitant tariff on imports from China. Downside risks of global recession and lower domestic economic growth persist, albeit less so than before this latest announcement.