A jittery Wall Street rides the tariff roller coaster and appears headed for big losses on Thursday
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks whipped through another dizzying day of trading, but the mood on Wall Street turned sour after President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping new tariffs against nearly all U.S. trading partners, an action that could drastically remake the global economy.
The S&P 500 rose 0.7% in regular trading Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 235 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9%. But futures trading showed all three indexes heading for sharp declines in Thursday trading, with the S&P 500 down 3.6% and the Nasdaq indicated lower by 4.5%.
Financial markets around the world have been shaky lately because of uncertainty about Trump’s trade war. He has said he wants tariffs to make the global system more fair and to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States from other countries. But tariffs also threaten to grind down growth for the U.S. and other economies, while worsening inflation when it may be stuck above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
One of the hopes that helped push the U.S. stock market higher this week was the possibility that at least the worst of the uncertainty around tariffs may be passing. Those hopes appear to have been dashed by Trump after the market closed Wednesday, when he declared a 10% baseline tax on imports from all countries and higher tariff rates on dozens of nations that run trade surpluses with the United States.
The president held up a chart while speaking at the White House, showing the United States would charge a 34% tax on imports from China, a 20% tax on imports from the European Union, 25% on South Korea, 24% on Japan and 32% on Taiwan. The new tariffs will come on top of recent announcements of 25% taxes on auto imports; levies against China, Canada and Mexico; and expanded trade penalties on steel and aluminum.
Among the companies whose shares fell in after-hours trading, Lululemon was 11%; home products retailer Williams-Sonoma was down 10%; and Deckers Outdoor, the maker of Uggs, was lower by 9%.
Big Tech stocks also fell after the bell. Apple shares dropped 7.4%, Amazon fell 6.1% and Nvidia dropped 5.2%.
Tesla shares fell 7.3% in after-hours trading. Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company swung wildly in regular trading, falling in the morning more than 6% following a report that it delivered fewer electric vehicles in the first three months of the year than it did in last year’s first quarter, partly due to backlash against Musk's cost-cutting efforts for the Trump administration. But its stock rebounded and ended with a gain of 5.3% following a report from Politico that Trump has told others that Musk will step back from his government role in coming weeks.
A few stocks did rise after-hours. The railroad operator Norfolk Southern rose 4.7% and spice maker McCormick & Co. gained 2.6%.
Even before Trump formally announced the details of the tariffs, the market had been worried that the herky-jerky rollout could by itself create enough nervousness to get U.S. households and businesses to freeze their spending, which would damage the economy.
Surveys have shown deepening pessimism, but economists are waiting to see if that translates into actual damage for the economy. A report on Wednesday suggested the U.S. job market may still be running stronger than expected.
The report from ADP Research said employers, excluding the government, accelerated their hiring last month by more than economists estimated. It could be an encouraging signal for the more comprehensive jobs report coming Friday from the U.S. government. Economists expect that to show overall hiring slowed in March from February.
The job market has been one of the linchpins keeping the U.S. economy out of a recession.
Treasury yields swung in the bond market, echoing the indecision seen in the stock market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.12% from 4.18% earlier.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 37.90 points to 5,670.97 in the regular trading session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 235.36 to 42,225.32, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 151.16 to 17,601.05.
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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.