Stock markets close slightly lower after another day of Wall Street chaos and tariff threats
S&P 500 dips to 0.2%, Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.9%, Nasdaq sinks 0.1% to end the day
Stocks ended another tumultuous day lower as markets reel from U.S. President Donald Trump's latest threats to escalate his tariff fight.
The S&P 500 sank 0.2 per cent Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 349 points, or 0.9 per cent, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1 per cent.
Earlier in a heart-racing morning, the Dow fell as many as 1,700 points shortly after trading began, following even worse losses worldwide on worries that Trump's tariffs could torpedo the global economy. But it suddenly surged to a leap of nearly 900 points before pulling back lower. The S&P 500 at one point went from a loss of 4.7 per cent to a gain of 3.4 per cent, which would have been its biggest jump in years.
The yo-yoing came amid reports, which the White House called "fake news," that Trump was considering a 90-day tariff pause. The reports briefly sent markets back up into positive territory before the White House's assertion caused them to tumble again.
Within less than an hour of that "fake news" announcement, Trump threatened to raise tariffs further against China after the world's second-largest economy retaliated last week with its own set of tariffs on U.S. products.
Before trading began, the S&P 500 was headed toward bear market territory, defined as a fall of more than 20 per cent from the peak. The S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones all recouped some value before markets opened. The index was off 17.4 per cent as of the end of last week.
Earlier in the day, the S&P 500 briefly fell more than 20 per cent below its record set less than two months ago. If it finishes a day below that bar, it would be a big enough drop that Wall Street has a name for it — a "bear market" signifies a downturn that's moved beyond a run-of-the-mill 10 per cent drop, which happens every year or so.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down more than 300 points heading into the market close, or almost 1.5 per cent. The Canadian dollar traded for 70.29 cents US compared with 70.34 cents US on Friday.
On Wall Street, roughly 65 per cent of the stocks fell within the S&P 500. The index is being lifted by gains from several big technology stocks, whose pricey values tend to give more heft to the market's direction, whether up or down. Nivida rose 4.6 per cent.
Nike dropped four per cent, for one of the larger losses in the market. Not only does it sell a lot of shoes and apparel in China, it also makes much of it there.
Bitcoin sank below $79,000 US, down from its record above $100,000 US set in January, after holding steadier than other markets last week.
The market dip follows Trump's announcement of sharply higher U.S. import taxes last week and retaliation from China that saw markets fall sharply on Thursday and Friday.
Late Sunday, Trump reiterated his resolve, saying, "sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something."
Some countries, South Korea, Japan and Pakistan among them, said they were sending trade officials to Washington soon to try to seek clarity.
Trump has given several reasons for his stiff tariffs, including to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, which is a process that could take years. Trump has also justified the tariffs as a matter of addressing American trade deficits — which most economists say is not a sign of economic health in and of itself. In the case of Canada and Mexico, he has sought to use tariffs to try to curb the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., even though drug interdictions from Canada into the U.S. are relatively low.
Jared Bernstein, former chair of president Joe Biden's Council of Economic Advisers, told CBC News Network that the Trump administration's tariff policy is built on an "alternate reality" where trade deficits are negative and something other nations deserve to be punished for.
"Until they're willing to bend ... their alternate reality to the actual reality, which is exactly what the markets are responding to, I think we're gonna just be looking at more of this kind of volatility and disruption," Bernstein said of the tumult on Wall Street.
Barry Schwartz, chief investment officer at Baskin Wealth Management in Toronto, said the markets seemed to be looking for a bottom on Monday — a point he says they will have to reach at some point.
"Markets can't keep going down every single day on the same news," Schwartz said. "At some point in time, there'll be some stability."
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, in his much-read annual note to shareholders early Monday, cautioned investors that the turmoil caused by U.S. tariffs and a global trade war could slow growth in the world's largest economy, spur inflation and potentially lead to lasting negative consequences.
"The quicker this issue is resolved, the better because some of the negative effects increase cumulatively over time and would be hard to reverse," the CEO wrote.
The U.S. Federal Reserve could cushion the blow of tariffs on the American economy by cutting interest rates, which Trump in a social media post early Monday argued for. That can encourage companies and households to borrow and spend. But Fed chair Jerome Powell said Friday that the higher tariffs could drive up expectations for inflation and lower rates could fuel still more price increases.
Global markets tumble
Chinese markets often don't follow global trends, but they also tumbled. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 13.2 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 7.3 per cent. In Taiwan, the Taiex plummeted 9.7 per cent, while South Korea's Kospi lost 5.6 per cent.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost nearly 8 per cent shortly after the market opened and futures trading for the benchmark was briefly suspended. It closed down 7.8 per cent.
European shares followed Asian markets lower, led by Germany's DAX index, which briefly fell more than 10 per cent at the open on the Frankfurt exchange. It recovered to finish the day down 4.13 per cent.
A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil dipped below $60 during the morning for the first time since 2021, hurt by worries that a global economy weakened by trade barriers will burn less fuel.
Nathan Thooft, chief investment officer and senior portfolio manager at Manulife Investment Management, said more countries are likely to respond to the U.S. with retaliatory tariffs. Given the large number of countries involved, "it will take a considerable amount of time in our view to work through the various negotiations that are likely to happen."
"Ultimately, our take is market uncertainly and volatility are likely to persist for some time," he said.
With files from Reuters, The Canadian Press and Nisha Patel
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