A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell in New York City, on April 7, 2025.
Timothy A. Clary | Afp | Getty Images
U.S. stocks tumbled again in a volatile trading session Monday as the White House remained defiant even after the rollout of shockingly high tariff rates on most key U.S. trading partners that has caused a market meltdown.
In the latest development, Trump threatened even higher rates against China as the two countries traded tit-for-tat threats.
- The S&P 500 lost 1.5%, bringing its decline from its closing record touched in February to nearly 20%, a bear market in Wall Street terms. At the lows of the session, the S&P 500 was in bear market territory.
- The Dow Jones Industrial average tumbled 755 points, or 2%, following back-to-back 1,500-point losses for the first time ever to end last week.
- The Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.2%, further into bear territory, as investors sold their tech winners to raise cash. The Nasdaq is off 24% from its record.
Stocks mounted a short-lived rally shortly after the open that took the Dow Jones Industrial average into positive territory. Speculation of some sort of tariff pause circulated on trading floors and social media and may have contributed to the pop. The White House told CNBC that any talk of a 90-day pause was “fake news.”
Dow intraday
Trump’s initial unilateral 10% tariff went into effect Saturday. Investors were hoping for news over the weekend that the Trump administration was having successful negotiations with countries to lower the tariff rates, or at the very least, was considering delaying the set of so-called reciprocal tariffs due to take effect April 9. Instead the president and his key advisors played down the sell-off:
- Trump said Sunday evening on the market rout: “I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”
- Trump then threatened China on Monday via Truth Social: “If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose additional tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th. Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!”
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CBS News that the tariffs would not be postponed. “The tariffs are coming… They are definitely going to stay in place for days and weeks.”
Investors were surprised first by the magnitude of certain rates applied to trading partners that appeared to be based on a formula without a valid rationale based on established economic theory. They were rattled further when China on Friday decided to retaliate with a 34% tariff on all U.S. imports, instead of negotiating first. Now an all-out trade war with China appears to be a possibility.
“The president is losing the confidence of business leaders around the globe…this is not what we voted for,” wrote Bill Ackman, billionaire head of Pershing Square, on X. “The President has an opportunity on Monday to call a time out and have the time to execute on fixing an unfair tariff system. Alternatively, we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down.”
While the administration said at least 50 nations had reached out to start negotiations, Canada and the European Union were planning to follow China’s lead and readying retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. Vietnam has offered already to cut tariffs on the U.S. to zero, according to Trump, but trade advisor Peter Navarro told CNBC on Monday that wasn’t enough and that “it’s the non-tariff cheating that matters.” This suggests negotiations could be drawn out longer than Wall Street would like.
Fears grew on Wall Street that the sell-off would feed on itself with hedge funds forced to sell down equities and other risky assets to raise cash needed meet margin calls. The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, surged to the 50 level Monday, an extreme level seen mostly only during bear markets.
“Margin calls are going out as we speak,” said Chris Rupkey chief economist at FWDBONDS. “For a third straight day investors in U.S. equity markets have turned (a) huge thumbs down on the White House Liberation Day tariffs which have rocked Wall Street.”
The contagion spread to other assets and around the globe. The price of bitcoin, tumbled below $77,000. U.S. crude oil dropped below $60 a barrel to a multiyear low. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 13% for its biggest decline since 1997. Germany’s DAX Index lost as much as 10% during Monday’s session.
Apple shares fell 5% to their lows of the session after Trump’s threat to double-down on China tariffs.
