- After a day of record-highs, stocks broke into a selloff on Wednesday after President Donald Trump corrected the total tariff rate imposed on China to 145%. Indexes fell across the board and the dollar saw its worst slip since 2022. Anticipation builds for Friday, as Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley release their quarterly earnings.
Stocks resumed their decline Thursday, conceding ground made up on Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on some of the “Liberation Day” tariffs.
S&P 500 slipped 3.46%, closing at 5,268.05, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average sold off 2.5% and closed at 39.593.66. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 4.31% settling at 16,387.31.
Tech giants suffered notable declines — Tesla and Apple fell 7.3% and 4.2%, respectively. Meanwhile Meta Platforms lost almost 7% and Nvidia pulled back close to 6%.
Despite putting some “reciprocal” tariffs on ice Thursday, Trump announced that the total tariff rate imposed on China rose to 145% compared to what was thought to be 125% tariff.
Later, Trump said that he wouldn’t rule out extending his tariff pause past 90 days.
“We’ll have to see what happens at that time,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting.
Additionally, the U.S. dollar saw its worst day since 2022, falling 1.46%, while gold prices climbed 3% to an all-time high Thursday, as investors seek safety amid the frosty U.S.-China trade posturing.
“Investors have sobered up,” SimCorp managing director of applied research Melissa Brown told CNBC. “Uncertainty is a big issue because the 145% rate could be a different number tomorrow.”
“It’s very hard to call a bottom or a top because things have changed so much in the narrative and investor perceptions.”
The decline follows Wednesday’s rally, where the S&P 500 soared more than 9%, the third-largest single-day gain since World War II. The Nasdaq saw its second-best day ever and the largest advance since January 2001, while the Dow recorded its largest percentage gain since March 2020.
Additionally, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley are slated to report their first quarter results Friday. Commentary from top executives about the tariffs and their forecasts for how they will affect their companies will be under special scrutiny as banks stock prices have tanked with the market.
