Meltdown

PAKISTAN’S stock market has a much better idea than our policymakers about what has actually hit the global economy in the shape of US ‘reciprocal’ tariffs. The nation’s equity market took a severe drubbing on Monday, plummeting 7.31pc at one point despite a pause in trading triggered by activation of circuit breakers to prevent panic selling and extreme volatility, following a steep drop in stock valuations during the morning session. Although the PSX managed to claw back some of the losses later in the day, its bearish response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs shows that fears of recession worldwide weighed on investors’ minds more than the comfort offered by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s optimism that punitive tariffs could be turned into a win-win situation for both countries. “You should never let a good crisis go to waste. We are looking at it both as a challenge as well as an opportunity,” the minister said on Saturday.