Market awaits more info on Trump tariff plans
March 31, 2025
The Baker Hughes Rig Count had oil rigs down 2 to a total of 484 oil rigs. Last year at this time there were 506 oil rigs in operation.
Energy prices are a bit higher this morning on the reaction to the threat by Presentient Trump of additional sanctions on Russia along with 25-50% tariffs on any country buying Russian oil. China, India, Brazil are the likely targets as they are the ones who are mainly buying Russian crude oil.
President Trump is also threatening more sanctions or even military action against Iran if they will not agree to a deal to stop its nuclear program.
Crude prices below the $70 dollar level are likely to keep some production idle and if prices fall further below $70 it could bring down the US crude oil production numbers.
This is a pivotal week as the market hopes to get more details on President Trump’s reciprocal tariff plan country by country. We should also get more news about President Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Wall Street has been nervous about all this, and the equities markets have been very volatile lately as a result. This has all played out as the S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 and its worst first quarter since the pandemic in 2020.