Wall Street today: S&P 500 wipes out all gains since Election Day, Nasdaq down 10% from record high amid trade war fears | Stock Market News

Wall Street Today: Major stock indexes were sharply lower on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq Composite index down 10% from its December record high and Treasury yields also declining as the United States hit Canada, Mexico and China with steep tariffs, fueling investor worries about the impact on the economy.

The S&P 500 was down more than 1%, while MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe dropped 13.14 points, or 1.54%, to 842.67. The Nasdaq fell 10% from its record high hit on December 16 into correction territory.

Wall Street’s selloff was broad, with all of the major sectors lower. Financials were down 3.9%, the most of any of the sectors.

Donald Trump’s return to the White House was cause for celebration on Wall Street. In the month after Election Day alone, the S&P 500 Index jumped more than 5%, adding some $2.8 trillion in value, on the expectation that the new administration would juice the economy.

Then, even as enthusiasm eased as the calendar turned to 2025, mainly on concerns tariffs and deportations could stoke inflation, stocks remained at or near all-time highs. The S&P 500 hit a record on Feb. 19, putting it up 6.3%, or more than $3 trillion, since Election Day.

Two weeks later, those gains are gone. The S&P 500 tumbled 1.7% at 11:29 a.m. Tuesday, adding to the worst single-day selloff of the year after Trump slapped 25% tariffs on goods from America’s two biggest trading partners. The index is now down 6.4% from its record, and virtually unchanged since the day Americans went to the polls four months ago.

Wall Street had retreated almost 2 percent mid-session following steep losses the previous day while European stock markets closed down sharply and oil prices slumped, the price of Brent Crude plunging 2.4 percent to a five-month low of $69.94 amid worries a prolonged trade spat may knock the world economy out of kilter.

European equities took a similar buffeting as Frankfurt lost more than 3.5 percent for its worst session in almost three years. London shed 1.3 percent and Paris gave up 1.9 percent.

The main US oil contract, West Texas Intermediate, fell almost two percent to $69.04 a day after OPEC confirmed plans to hike oil output from April, amid pressure from Trump to lower prices.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s new 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada and the doubling of duties on Chinese imports could rattle nearly $2.2 trillion in annual trade with the U.S.’ three largest trading partners.

China immediately responded with 10%-15% tariffs on certain U.S. imports from March 10 and a series of new export restrictions for designated U.S. entities, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa was launching 25% tariffs on C$30 billion ($20.72 billion) worth of U.S. imports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 764.08 points, or 1.75%, to 42,434.53, the S&P 500 slid 99.56 points, or 1.68%, to 5,750.16 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 258.57 points, or 1.39%, to 18,094.61.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 2.2%. Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.2% and Taiwan’s benchmark lost 0.7%.

Government bond yields fell. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note declined 3.8 basis points to 4.142% after falling to 4.115%, its lowest since October 21.

The dollar weakened to a three-month low, while investors flocked to traditional safe-haven currencies the Japanese yen and Swiss franc amid growth and tariff worries.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,was down 0.32% at 106.20, with the euro up 0.4% at $1.0528. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.65% to 148.55.

Other riskier assets lost ground too, with bitcoin down 3.43% at $82,365.83.

Trump’s address to the U.S. Congress later on Tuesday could deliver further surprises, and investors are also anxious for Friday’s February nonfarm payrolls report.

Investors were also unnerved by Trump pausing military aid to Ukraine following his clash in the Oval Office last Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

U.S. crude fell 1.46% to $67.37 a barrel and Brent fell to $70.25 per barrel, down 1.91% on the day.