NEW YORK: Major stock indexes extended sharp declines and the dollar weakened further in midday Thursday trading, with the Nasdaq down more than 5% as investors remained skittish, a day after
US President Donald Trump’s move to temporarily lower tariffs on many countries caused a massive relief rally.
US Treasury prices were still slightly higher after this week’s sharp bond selloff.
Investors are worried as much uncertainty remains on the tariff front and the trade war’s potential economic fallout. Trump on Wednesday also said he would raise the tariff on Chinese imports, and the White House said a 10% blanket duty on almost all US imports will remain in effect.
“The realization is that while we got some good news yesterday, we still have to live in a world where there’s new uncertainty,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth in New York.
The stock declines came despite US data showing consumer prices unexpectedly fell in March.
Amid the head-spinning changes in the market and news on tariffs, investors also are gearing up for the start of quarterly US earnings, with results from some of the biggest US banks including JPMorgan Chase due on Friday.
“There will still be a lot of pulled guidance,” said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“It may be that the market is taking back some of yesterday’s rip-your-face-off rally because they realize some of the relief is not as great as they thought.”
Markets have been roiled since Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs late on April 2. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,721.71 points, or 4.18%, to 38,910.92, the S&P 500 fell 269.29 points, or 4.89%, to 5,190.10 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 997.93 points, or 5.78%, to 16,134.67.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 13.46 points, or 1.71%, to 771.82.
Trump’s reversal on tariffs on Wednesday pushed equities higher across the globe, starting with a 9.5% pop in the S&P 500 on Wednesday.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended up 3.7%. China’s CSI300 blue-chip index rose 1.3% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 2.1%.
The European Union will put on hold for 90 days its first countermeasures against Trump’s tariffs, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 2.28% to 144.35. The euro was up 2.19% against the dollar.
US Treasury prices edged higher after a solid 10-year note auction and pause in some trade tariffs on Wednesday helped the market stabilize from a sharp bond market selloff earlier this week. The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes fell 4.7 basis points to 4.349%, from 4.396% late on Wednesday. Yields move opposite to prices.
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