Japanese stocks retreat on growth worries; techs follow U.S. peers lower

See! A trade war is easy!

Break Apple up, no one company should be able to effect the global economy like this.

About time for Japan to cut the umbilicus and operate independent of the States!

gogogo - Break Apple up, no one company should be able to effect the global economy like this.

Nobody suggested this when Microsoft was king. Haters have to hate!

BertieWooster - About time for Japan to cut the umbilicus and operate independent of the States

Then what genius? Japan cannot exist without the US trade

A lot of factors at play here.

The biggest issue plaguing the world economy today is too much private and public debt and not enough demand as a result of that debt, not these minuscule tariffs imposed by the U.S, China and others.

Still, the tariffs have served to put both Chinese and U.S companies on notice as to the future direction of trade relations. That's a useful outcome for both countries and a particularly good outcome for S.E Asia and India.

Why does the economy crash every time there is a Republican President? Look it up. It's true.

My fantasy: two hakama wearing dues with hands daintily holding their fingertips watching a WOMAN in full business power attire clanging that bell. A girl can dream...

dues = dudes

@Lindsay: That is exactly what they said, it is why IE was removed from Euro versions of windows to stop monopolies. Any one company, no matter what industry, should be so powerful.

@Lindsay: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp.

Search for breakup of Microsoft

buckle up, 2019 won't be nice year. its about 10 years since the last major recession, this simple cycle of economy goes on regardless you like it or not

 this simple cycle of economy goes on regardless you like it or not

yep it certainly doesnt help when you spook investors with a trade war no matter how easy you think it is to win.

President owns it — Trump’s words.

Apple needs to re-think its current strategy. Over-reliance on sales of iPhones and the China market, frequent hyped-up product launches with little real improvement or innovation, a world saturated with Smart Phones. They have also had trouble with the current MacBook Pro, underwhelming, and numerous keypad issues; they have totally ignored the power users of the Mac Pro, high-end grfx and video pros, who now chose Windows Intel or Ryzen machines with better expandability and reliability; and the never-ending battery issues such as short battery lives, choking the speed, and difficulties to replace them. Maybe if these issues are addressed, Apple its over-reliant US economy can improve,

Break Apple up, no one company should be able to effect the global economy like this.

Apple is a luxury brand. Nothing more. Would you demand that Louis Vuitton be broken up?

Smartphones are a luxury item.

Trump had a huge hand in this by upsetting US trade for the world. Whether that is long-term good for the world or not, only history will tell. It is painful since Oct, that is certain.

Shares go up, shares go down, shares go up, across time they tend upward but the ride is a roller coaster.

Seth M - yes you are right in principle but when is another matter.

Matt Hartwell, dead right, it seems from the down votes some people don’t like reality or it being pointed out to them. We have not dealt with the problems from the last one, the central bank measures were aimed at saving their mates in the financial sector but kicking the can down the road when it comes to resolving the underlying problems and with no idea how to deal with the accumulated debt load. The best solution they could have done at the time was to do nothing at all and let the market resolve the problem with a healthy dose of creative destruction.

@Matt Hartwell

The biggest issue plaguing the world economy today is too much private and public debt... 

How exactly does the public debt of the likes of US, Japan, the UK, Canada, etc. "plague" the world economy?

This year will be rocky - huge up and down swings

JeffLee, all debt is unless it is used to invest in a business so as to improve productivity is a drag on the economy, the private debt in the countries you mention seriously undermine consumption thereby impacting their economic performance which given they constitute a major portion of the world economy, impacts the world through the supply chain if nothing else.

“Rising interest rates and quantitative tightening (QT) are not the problem. They are the inevitable consequence of the problem. The Federal Reserve made a deal with the devil to postpone the necessary pain when it cut rates to zero and launched QE (quantitative easing). The devil has finally showed up to collect. Welcome to hell!” US analyst Peter Schiff.

Automated Trading during Quiet periods is... to contort an old Scottish Proverb:

When the Human's away, the Computers will Play....