Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market is experiencing significant declines today following President Donald Trump's announcement of sweeping new tariffs. The S&P 500 (-3.8%), the Nasdaq Composite (-5.0%), the Dow Jones Industrial Average (-3.0%), and the Russell 2000 (-5.3%) show steep declines, trading near session lows.

The administration imposed 10% tariffs on global imports with higher rates applied to 60 other countries. A 34% tariff has been added on top of the 20% tariff on imports from China. Japan, Vietnam, and India face tariff rates of 24%, 46%, and 26%, respectively. The EU is subject to a 20% rate. 

The move has escalated fears about an economic slowdown. Large cap tech has felt the pinch of these fears. Apple (AAPL 205.10, -18.78, -8.4%), NVIDIA (NVDA 103.38, -7.00, -6.4%), and Amazon.com (AMZN 182.31, -13.72, -7.0%) are some of the biggest losers in terms of percentage change. 

Growth concerns have also manifested in dropping oil prices related to worries about softening demand. WTI crude oil futures are 7.1% lower at $66.65/bbl.

The S&P 500 energy sector (-6.5%) shows the largest decline among the ten sectors trading lower. The technology (-5.8%) and discretionary (-5.2%) sectors are the next worst performers. 

Economic slowdown worries have also translated into lower Treasury yields. The 10-yr yield is down 16 basis points to 4.04% and the 2-yr yield is down 17 basis points to 3.73%.

Reviewing today's economic data:

• Weekly Initial Claims 219K (Briefing.com consensus 224K); Prior was revised to 225K from 224K, Weekly Continuing Claims 1.903 mln; Prior was revised to 1.847 mln from 1.856 mln
  • The key takeaway from the report is that initial claims remained at a relatively low level while continuing claims increased to their highest level since November 2021, suggesting that people are having an increasingly difficult time returning to work.
• February Trade Balance -$122.7 bln (Briefing.com consensus -$121.0 bln); Prior was revised to -$130.7 bln from -$131.4 bln
  • The key takeaway from the report is that while there was some sequential narrowing in the trade deficit, the deficit remained in record territory as front-running of purchases continued ahead of April's implementation of tariffs.
• March S&P Global US Services PMI - Final 54.4; Prior 54.3 from
• March ISM Services 50.8% (Briefing.com consensus 53.2%); Prior 53.5%
  • The key takeaway from the report is that growth in the services sector slowed notably in March with employment contracting for the first time since September.