Stocks dipped on Wednesday, led lower by tech, as pressure on the tariff front mounted.
The S&P 500 lost 1.12% and ended at 5,712.20, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 132.71 points, or 0.31%, to close at 42,454.79. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 2.04% and closed at 17,899.01, as Nvidia shares dropped nearly 6%.
Major tech names such as Meta Platforms and Amazon dropped more than 2%, while Alphabet lost more than 3%. Tesla slid more than 5%.
Stocks hit session lows after the White House said that President Donald Trump will unveil new tariffs on auto imports during a press conference at 4 p.m. ET. General Motors and Stellantis each tumbled more than 3%.
The action came ahead of a broad array of additional levies expected to be revealed next week. Trump on Tuesday said that these tariffs will likely be more "lenient than reciprocal," reflecting a softened stance that added onto reports from earlier this week that the duties could be more narrow in scope and that sector-specific tariffs are expected to be delayed.
"Whenever the President tosses out a trade tidbit, the markets either rejoice or retreat," said Sam Stovall, CFRA Research chief investment strategist. "Due to the President's plan to announce additional tariffs on autos, the defensive/safe haven consumer staples and utilities groups are once again in the lead. This rotation is likely to continue at least until April 2 when the reciprocal tariffs go into effect, and possible even longer should the President make ongoing adjustments to the tariffs."
Worries over the impact of protectionist trade policies have weighed on equities recently. The S&P 500 dipped into correction territory earlier this month, briefly dipping more than 10% from a record high set in February.
Wall Street is coming off a winning session, with the S&P 500 on Tuesday posting its third straight advance.
Source: CNBC
Tested EN...
Asian stock markets weakened for the second consecutive day, indicating that the initial rally that had been "speedy" at the start of the year is starting to lose steam. At the same time, US governmen...
US stocks were mixed on Wednesday as investors weighed uneven economic data against expectations for eventual Federal Reserve easing, with the S&P 500 easing 0.2% and the Dow Jones sliding 0.8% fr...
European stocks were in mixed territory on Wednesday morning, as regional market jitters grow over U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to annex Greenland. The pan-European Stoxx 600 was little chang...
Asian stock markets weakened slightly on Wednesday after posting their best start to the year in history. The decline was driven by a decline in Japanese stocks amid escalating tensions with China. Th...
Oil prices stabilized on Thursday (February 12th), as the market reassigned a risk premium to US-Iran tensions despite US inventory data showing swelling domestic supplies. This movement confirms one thing: geopolitical headlines are still more...
Gold prices weakened slightly on Thursday (February 12th), as more solid US employment data reduced market confidence in an imminent Federal Reserve interest rate cut. The strong employment data prompted market participants to shift expectations of...
The Hang Seng Index reversed its downward trend in Hong Kong on Thursday (February 12th), weakening by around 0.9% to around 27,000 after a strong session earlier. This decline halted the momentum of the short term rally, as investors began to...