Trump tariff tailspin worsens, Nasdaq confirms in bear market
trade war spurred the biggest losses since the pandemic.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite posted their largest two-day declines since the emerging coronavirus caused global panic during U.S. President Donald Trump's first term. For Thursday and Friday, the Dow was down 9.3%, the S&P 500 10.5% and the Nasdaq 11.4%.
Fallout from Trump's sweeping tariffs stoked fears of a global recession, wiping trillions of dollars of value from U.S. companies. Highlighting growing panic among investors, the CBOE Volatility Index, or Wall Street's fear gauge, closed at its highest level since April 2020.
Since late on Wednesday, when Trump boosted tariff barriers to their highest level in more than a century, investors have dumped stocks, fearing both the new U.S. economic reality and also how U.S. trading partners might retaliate by steepening their own trade barriers.
A record-breaking number of shares were traded on Friday, with volume on U.S. exchanges around 26.79 billion shares, beating the previous high of 24.48 billion shares traded on January 27, 2021.
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The Nasdaq slid on Friday 962.82 points, or 5.82%, to 15,587.79, confirming the tech-heavy index was in a bear market compared to its record closing high of 20,173.89 on December 16.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2,231.07 points, or 5.50%, to 38,314.86 points, confirming a correction to its record closing high of 45,014.04 on December 4.
The S&P 500 lost 322.44 points, or 5.97%, to close at 5,074.08