"BlackRock's Larry Fink warns US economy is weakening as we speak'

The head of BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager, told a gathering of chief executives and investors in New York that there was "a real downturn" developing in several sectors and that "more and more people were pausing and slowing down consumption".

"When you see a 20 per cent market decline in three days obviously it has significant impacts and the ripple effects of the potential of tariffs is going to be long-standing," Fink said.

"The market is impacting Main Street."