Last Updated:
The Dow fell 1,000 points, or 2.5%, and the broader S&P 500 was 2.6% lower; tech-heavy Nasdaq was 3% lower and flirting with bear-market territory — a decline of 20% from its peak in December.
Investors have been fearful that a dramatic escalation of the trade war could plunge the US and global economies into a recession. (AP Image)
Wall Street stocks opened sharply lower Friday, shrugging off solid US hiring data and extending a rout after China retaliated in kind to President Donald Trump’s global trade tariffs.
All three major indices were stuck in the red, pointing to another brutal session after the S&P 500 on Thursday experienced its largest drop since 2020 following Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariff announcement on Wednesday.
About 15 minutes into trading, the broad-based S&P 500 was down 3.2 percent at 5,223.19.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 2.8 percent to 39,412.00, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 3.6 percent to 15,949.93
The US economy added 228,000 jobs last month, much more than analysts anticipated and significantly above February’s revised 117,000 figure, said the Department of Labor.
But markets fixated on China’s announcement that it was imposing 34 percent tariffs on US imports while also enacting export controls on seven rare earth elements.
Meanwhile, Trump doubled down on his plan, saying on his Truth Social platform that “my policies will never change.”
Friday’s trend marks a “continuation of the worry regarding the announcement of the US tariffs on Wednesday, combined with China’s quicker-than-expected retaliatory tariffs,” said Sam Stovall of CFRA Research.
Stovall said investors are ignoring the jobs data, in part because it could lead the Federal Reserve to “continue to remain on the sidelines” following talk that the weakened US outlook with tariffs might prompt the central bank to cut interest rates more quickly.
All 11 sectors of the S&P 500 fell, led by energy, with petroleum producers and services companies sliding on a drop in oil prices amid the feeble demand outlook.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – AFP)