WALL STREET ENDS SHARPLY LOWER – Tariff risks send investors fleeing as the CBOE Market Volatility Index remained elevated
Wall Street stocks tumbled on mounting worries over the economic impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s multi-front tariff war.
All three major U.S. stock indexes suffered steep losses, forfeiting much of the previous session’s gains as growing concerns over the escalating Washington-Beijing trade face-off dampened optimism over upbeat economic data and U.S.-Europe trade negotiations.
After Trump announced a 90-day tariff reprieve on Wednesday, the S&P 500 surged 9.5%, the largest one-day percentage jump since October 2008. The tech-heavy Nasdaq soared 12.2%, notching its second-biggest daily gain on record.
Following the whipsaw of Wednesday’s bounce and Thursday’s selloff, the S&P 500 remained well below levels before the reciprocal tariffs were announced last week.
The Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index report showed the prices consumers pay for a basket of goods unexpectedly edged lower in March, with core price growth cooling down 2.8% year-on-year, coming within one percentage point of the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target. But the Fed’s path forward, in light of ongoing trade negotiations, is less clear.
The CBOE Market Volatility Index, often called the “fear index,” remained elevated.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 189.79 points, or 3.45%, to end at 5,267.11 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 737.66 points, or 4.31%, to 16,387.31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,029.51 points, or 2.54%, to 39,578.94.
