Stocks flitted between gains and losses on Thursday as investors weighed the latest tariff-related news from President Donald Trump, including his new tariffs aimed at foreign automakers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 142 points, or 0.3%. The S&P 500 lost about 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.2%.

Shares of several automakers declined after Trump on Wednesday evening announced 25% tariffs on "all cars that are not made in the United States," which will go into effect on April 2. General Motors pulled back 7.5%, while Stellantis lost 2% and Ford slipped 3%. Elon Musk's Tesla notably gained roughly 2%, however. Several Wall Street analysts see Tesla as a relative beneficiary of Trump's auto tariffs given the company's domestic production.

Trump has long discussed imposing duties on countries that have their own tariffs on U.S. imports and said on Wednesday that his retaliatory tariffs will be permanent for his entire second term.

Still, hints provided by the President this week about the upcoming April 2 levies has given investors some relief. He said Wednesday the tariffs would be "very lenient" and that he would be willing to reduce tariffs on China to help further a deal with ByteDance's TikTok. At the same time, using tariffs as a negotiating tactic, he threatened on Thursday to impose "far larger" tariffs on
the European Union and Canada if they work together to combat trade tariffs.

Trump's announcements come as investors are already anxious about how his retaliatory tariffs will affect the broader U.S. economy, which is already showing some signs of weakness.

"I think it's just the almost scattershot way that trade policies being implemented that maybe has investors on edge ... just the approach DOGE has taken worries folks that something may fall through the cracks. It's not so much the policy, it's the way they're going about it," said Sameer Samana, Wells Fargo Investment Institute senior global market strategist.

"If in the next couple weeks we have a trade and tariff framework in place, and companies and consumers can start to make decisions again with some clarity, it's possible that this was all a near-term speed bump and we start to get kind of back on track," he added.

The major indexes are clinging to marginal gains this week. The S&P 500 has ticked up nearly 0.8%, while the Nasdaq has gained 0.5%. The 30-stock Dow has added 1% this week thus far.

Source: CNBC