Posted on 02/03/25
| News Source: Associated Press
Worries about President Donald Trump’s tariffs are sending U.S. stocks through sharp swings on Monday as financial markets worldwide drop on concerns about a potential trade war.
The S&P 500 was down 0.7% in midday trading following worse losses for stock markets across Asia and Europe. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 99 points, or 0.2%, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1% lower.
The U.S. stock market had been on track for a much worse loss itself, with the Dow down 665 points shortly after the start of trading, on worries about how much pain U.S. companies would feel because of the tariffs. Some of the sharpest losses hit Big Tech and other companies that could be hurt most by higher interest rates that could result from the tariffs announced on imports from Canada, Mexico and China.
But stocks pared their losses in the morning after Mexican President President Claudia Sheinbaum said tariffs on her country are on hold for a month following a conversation with Trump.
The ultimate fear is that Trump’s tariffs will push up prices for groceries, electronics and all kinds of other bills for U.S. households, putting upward pressure on a U.S. inflation rate that’s largely been slowing since its peak three summers ago. Stubbornly high or accelerating inflation could keep the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates, which it began doing in September to give the U.S. economy a boost.