Yahoo Finance Six tweets that flushed $744 billion down the drain
US president Donald Trump loves his Twitter account. He uses it to announce new policy, attack critics and influence politics.
But over the weekend, the impact his words have on the world could actually be quantified.
Trump sent off six tweets in two minutes on Saturday Australia time that sent the stock markets crashing.
He talked about how much he blamed his own federal reserve chair Jerome Powell, announced further tariffs on Chinese imports into the US and told US companies to move their factories out of China.
According to Forbes, the markets lost US$300 billion (AU$446 billion) in the first 15 minutes following the tweets. The rest of the day saw US$500 billion (AU$744 billion) wiped from the stock market.
How does this affect Australia?
While not many Australians directly own US shares, the American stock market has a massive influence on the economic health of the rest of the world. And through superannuation, many Australians are exposed to the fortunes of the US markets.
The Australian share market is expected to open lower Monday morning as a result of the US crash over the weekend.
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