NEW YORK: Wall Street’s main indexes tumbled on Thursday on concerns over the impact of high US tariffs on global economy, with stocks pulling back sharply from the day-ago gains when President Donald Trump moved to pause the levies on some countries.
The 90-day halt in tariffs had lifted the S&P 500 to its biggest single-day percentage gain since 2008 on Wednesday. The Nasdaq posted its biggest one-day jump since 2001.
Trump turned up the heat on China on Thursday, raising the total levy on imports from the country to 145%, according to a CNBC report, citing the White House. Beijing had slapped 84% tariffs on US imports.
“While yesterday seemed to be a significant rally in the face of good news in terms of the potential for negotiations, the bad news is the trade war with China continues to escalate,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist, B Riley Wealth.
Meanwhile, data showed the consumer price index unexpectedly dipped 0.1% in March and advanced 2.4% in the 12 months through March. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI edging up 0.1% and climbing 2.6% year-on-year.
Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said it is unclear how the tariffs might affect the economy.
Traders now see nearly 90 basis points of interest-rate cuts in 2025, according to LSEG data.
At 12:19 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,872.86 points, or 4.61%, to 38,735.59, the S&P 500 lost 298.72 points, or 5.45%, to 5,158.18 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 1,091.78 points, or 6.38%, to 16,033.20.
An auction of 30-year Treasury notes at 1:00 p.m. ET will be in focus.
Most S&P 500 sectors nursed losses. Information technology and energy led the fall, down more than 7% each.
Big Tech came under pressure once again, with Apple down 7%, Microsoft 4.7% and Nvidia 8.5%.
“Any pullback today would be very normal after a really big move like yesterday’s. I would expect that for the next day or two we could see some profit taking,” said Larry Tentarelli, chief technical strategist at Blue Chip Daily Trend Report.
Despite Wednesday’s bounce, the S&P 500 and the Dow are more than 8% below levels seen before the reciprocal tariffs were announced last week.
CarMax slid 20.2% after the used-car retailer missed fourth-quarter profit expectations.
US earnings season could also offer more insights into the health of corporate America. Big banks such as JPMorgan Chase will report first-quarter results on Friday.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 7.15-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 4.85-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and three new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded nine new highs and 84 new lows.
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