Stock market fights back to end mixed, with Dow up 400 points ahead of April 2 tariffs
U.S. stocks clawed back early losses, with the blue-chip Dow and broad S&P 500 indexes ending in the green as investors try to shake off nerves over President Donald Trump's tariff plan for April 2.
A 25% tariff on all cars not made in America and some auto parts is set to kick in April 2, along with a plan for reciprocal tariffs. Uncertainty over whether further tariffs will be broad or targeted has whipsawed the market. Broad tariffs that last a while would damage the economy and boost inflation, economists said.
Over the weekend, Trump said little to assauge investors. He said in a NBC interview he “couldn’t care less” if foreign automakers raise their prices due to these new tariffs. On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported Trump wanted his advisers to be more aggressive with setting tariffs. He also said reciprocal tariffs would include all nations.
"Markets often sell off on uncertainty (ahead of major events) and recover on certainty (the actual event/news)," wrote Larry Tentarelli, chief technical strategist and founder of Blue Chip Daily Trend Report. "The April 2 deadline could be a major directional catalyst for most global markets, in either direction."
Still, "we give recession odds in 2025 a 25-30% probability," he said.
Goldman Sachs also raised its U.S. recession probability to 35% from 20% and cut its 2025 economic growth forecast to 1.5% from 2.0%. Goldman also expects the Fed to cut interest rates three times this year, up from its previous forecast of two and above the Fed's plan for two, despite higher inflation forecasts. It cited heightened recession risks due to U.S. tariffs.
The Dow erased a more then 300-point loss to end up 1%, or 417.86 points, to 42,001.76; S&P 500 bounced off a 6-month low to add 0.55%, or 30.91points, to 5,611.85; but the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped 23.70%, or 23.7 points, to 17,299.29.
All three indexes posted a monthly loss. The S&P 500 fell more than 6% in March for its largest monthly slide since September 2022. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted their biggest quarterly declines in three years.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield slipped to 4.213% and gold scaled yet another record high, above $3,100 per ounce as investors fled to safer assets.
Corporate news
Corporate news is light, but shares of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies slumped on reports the Food and Drug Administration's top vaccine official, Peter Marks, had been forced to resign. He is slated to leave effective April 5, according to his resignation letter, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Friday. Marks criticized Kennedy's views on vaccines in the letter. Marks has been an advocate for programs that expedited the development of rare disease treatments and gene therapies.
Vaccine-focused companies Novavax and BioNTech slid, as well as gene therapy developers likeTaysha Gene Therapies, Solid Biosciences and Sarepta Therapeutics.Separately, mortgage company Rocket agreed to buy Mr. Cooper Group for $9.4 billion in an all-stock deal. Rocket shares shed 7.37%, but Mr. Cooper jumped 14.5%
Apple was fined $162 million by French antitrust regulators for privacy changes it imposed on app developers. Regulators said the company's change, which forced iPhone and iPad apps to ask users for permission to track their activity across multiple apps, was discriminatory. Shares of Apple rose 2%.
Cryptocurrency
Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) plans to revise the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act to give crypto assets a legal status as financial products, the Nikkei business daily said on Sunday, without citing sources. As part of the move, crypto assets will be put under insider trading restrictions that prohibit buying and selling based on undisclosed internal information, the Nikkei said.
The FSA could send a bill to amend the legislation to Japan’s parliament as early as next year, the report said.
Separately, in another push into crypto, two of the president's sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., will merge their American Data Centers with, and take a 20% stake in, American Bitcoin, a mining operation majority-owned by Hut 8, a publicly traded crypto-infrastructure company, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Bitcoin rose 0.21% to $83,825.10.
This story was updated with new information.
Medora Lee is a money, markets, and personal finance reporter at Paste BN. You can reach her at mjlee@usatoday.com and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday.