Stocks racked up more losses on Wall Street Tuesday as a trade war between the U.S. and its key trading partners escalated, wiping out all the gains since Election Day for the S&P 500.
The Trump administration imposed tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico starting Tuesday and doubled tariffs against imports from China. All three countries announced retaliatory actions, sparking worries about a slowdown in the global economy.
The S&P 500 fell 1.2%, with more than 80% of the stocks in the benchmark index closing lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1.6%.
The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.4%. The tech-heavy index briefly reached a 10% decline from its most recent closing high, which is what the market considers a correction, but gains for Nvidia, Microsoft and other tech heavyweights helped pare those losses.
Financial stocks were among the heaviest weights on the S&P 500 index. JPMorgan Chase fell 4% and Bank of America lost 6.3%.
The recent decline in U.S. stocks has wiped out all of the markets’ gains since Trump’s election in November. That rally had been built largely on hopes for policies that would strengthen the U.S. economy and businesses. Worries about tariffs raising consumer prices and reigniting inflation have been weighing on both the economy and Wall Street.
The tariffs are prompting warnings from retailers, including Target and Best Buy, as they report their latest financial results. Target fell 3% despite beating Wall Street’s earnings forecasts, saying there will be “meaningful pressure” on its profits to start the year because of tariffs and other costs.
Best Buy plunged 13.3% for the biggest drop among S&P 500 stocks after giving investors a weaker-than-expected earnings forecast and warning about tariff impacts.
The "Turd" Reich
Article URL : https://apnews.com/article/stocks-markets-rates-tariffs-trump-1ca865fa6abcca716b5e7c9281ea6e07