NEW YORK — The U.S. stock market continued to decline on Tuesday after President Donald Trump intensified his trade war with Canada, causing Wall Street to fall more than nine percent from its record high just a month ago. Soon after Trump said he would raise tariffs on steel and aluminum coming from Canada, the S&P 500 went down 0.9% in morning trading, doubling their planned increase to 50%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 529 points, or 1.3%, as of 10:50 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% lower.
The recent decline extends a sell-off on Wall Street that has left investors feeling uneasy. This turmoil is driven by concerns about the impact of President Trump's tariffs and other proposed policies on the economy. Over the past eight days, the S&P 500 has fluctuated by at least 1%—either up or down—seven times.
They are also paying close attention to the warning signals about the economy, as Trump's inconsistent rollout of tariffs has led to confusion and pessimism among U.S. households and businesses. The concern is that these erratic changes could either directly harm the economy or create enough uncertainty to drive U.S. companies and consumers into a state of paralysis, freezing economic activity.
Yesterday evening Delta Air Lines said that it’s already seeing the change in confidence, which is already affecting demand for close-in bookings for flights. That caused the company to reduce its revenue growth forecast for the first three months of 2025, lowering it from a range of 7% to 9% down to a range of 3% to 4%. Delta’s stock lost 8.4%.
Southwest Airlines also cut its forecast for an important underlying revenue trend, and it specifically pointed to less government travel, among other reasons. Yet, the airline's stock jumped 6.4% after announcing it would begin charging some passengers for checked bags and implementing changes to reward loyal customers.
Oracle dropped 5.9% after the technology giant reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that fell short of analysts’ expectations.
Trump buys a Tesla but fails to see the bottomless pit
This morning, a handful of Big Tech stocks made a half-hearted attempt to prop up the market after getting battered recently. For example, Tesla, the golden child of Elon Musk, saw a brief uptick. In a classic display of misplaced support, President Donald Trump even claimed he would buy a Tesla, as if that gesture would somehow save Elon’s so-called “baby” from its troubles.
Trump accused his political opponents of “illegally and collusively boycotting Tesla,” conveniently ignoring that Musk is busy in Washington cutting government spending and boosting unemployment and widespread recession. Meanwhile, Tesla's stock quickly turned back into a downward spiral, plummeting by 1.1%, stacking on a staggering 45.6% loss for the year. It seems the only thing these supposed boycotters are missing is the irony of a billionaire complaining about being held accountable.
Other Big Tech superstars, which had led the market to record after record in recent years, also lost earlier gains. Nvidia fell 0.8% to bring its loss for the year so far to 21%. It’s struggled as the market’s sell-off has particularly hit stocks seen as getting too expensive in Wall Street’s frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology.
In Europe and Asia, stock market indexes were mostly lower
Stocks in Shanghai rose by 0.4%, while those in Hong Kong held steady as China successfully concluded its annual national congress with effective measures to invigorate its slowing economy. In the bond market, Treasury yields stabilized after a substantial drop in recent months, reflecting heightened concerns about the U.S. economy. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond edged down to 4.21% from 4.22% late on Monday, a significant decline from nearly 4.80% in January.
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