Stocks dropped on Thursday after President Donald Trump unveiled widespread tariffs of at least 10% on many countries, dampening growth sentiment and raising risks of a global trade war. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 1,600 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite lost about 5% and 6%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Thursday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
Trump on Wednesday announced a baseline tariffs rate of 10% on most countries that goes into effect April 5, with the rate even higher for some countries like global manufacturing giant China. Market participants had priced in a 10% tariff cap to be applied to most countries, but the starting point of 10% is seen as the worst case scenario for the Trump administration's trade policy.
Shares of multinational companies like Nike (NKE) and Apple
"Apple produces basically all their iPhones in China, and the question will be around exceptions and exemptions on this tariff policy if those companies are buildings more operations, factories, and plants in the U.S. like Apple announced in February," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to clients on Wednesday.
"The worry will be around pricing and margin impacts along with what this means for the global supply chain looking forward," Ives added.
U.S. Services Activity, meanwhile, slowed more than expected in March, the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) reported Thursday. The ISM's purchasing managers' index (PMI) declined to 50.8 last month, down from February's reading of 53.5 -- readings above the neutral level of 50 indicate expansion.
"Despite an increase in comments on tariff impacts and continuing concerns over potential tariffs and declining governmental spending, there was a close balance in near-term sentiment, between panelists with good outlooks and those seeing or expecting declines," wrote Steve Miller, the chair of ISM, in a statement.
Initial Jobless Claims ticked lower for the week ended March 29, the Labor Department reported Thursday, coming below analyst expectations and the previous week's print of 225,000. Meanwhile, continuing jobless claims, which are tracked a week behind, rose by 56,000 to 1.9 million, marking their highest level since November 2021.
Elsewhere, data from job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas released Thursday showed Job Cuts rose to 275,240 in March, up from 172,017 in February, with more than 216,000 of those cuts related to Elon Musk's federal employee cuts.
"Job cut announcements were dominated last month by Department of Government Efficiency [DOGE] plans to eliminate positions in the federal government. It would have otherwise been a fairly quiet month for layoffs," said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in a release.
