Wall St Week Ahead-Shell-shocked markets brace for more tariff tumult
Investors will look for signs the stock market may be close to at least a short-term bottom after Trump's tariffs rocked global asset prices this week. The benchmark S&P 500 lodged its biggest weekly drop since March 2020 and the Nasdaq Composite on Friday ended down more than 20% from its December record high, confirming the tech heavy index is in a bear market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the week down well over 10% from its December record high, marking a correction for the blue-chip index.
More volatility could be in store ahead of the April 9 deadline Trump set for his reciprocal global tariffs to take effect, after his Wednesday announcement of the levies sent markets into a tailspin, raising fears of a global recession.
«The playbook on this is very, very unclear for everybody,» said Jeffrey Palma, head of multi-asset solutions at Cohen & Steers. «There is all the questions about tariffs, retaliatory tariffs, where this ends and where it shakes out.»
With the steep slide at the end of the week, the S&P 500 was down over 17% from its February 19 all-time closing high. In the two days following Trump's tariff announcement, S&P 500 companies lost about $5 trillion in market value, the largest amount ever in a two-day stretch, according to LSEG data.
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«The markets could be their own worst enemy,» said Matthew Miskin, co-chief investment strategist at John Hancock Investment Management. «This kind of drawdown… could shake confidence and it could actually lead to weaker economic