Wall Street’s sell-off kicked back into gear on Thursday, and a US stock market rattled by the whiplash created by President Donald Trump‘s tariffs and uncertainty about the economy fell sharply. The S&P 500 tumbled 1.8 per cent to resume its slide after a mini-recovery from the prior day clawed back some of its sharp drop over recent weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 427 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq composite sank 2.6% to finish more than 10% below its record set in December.
Stocks fell even though President Trump on Thursday offered a one-month reprieve from his 25% tariffs on many goods imported from Mexico and Canada. That’s unlike the bounce stocks got the prior day from his giving a one-month exemption specifically for automakers. All the moves keep hope alive that Trump may be using tariffs as just a tool for negotiations rather than as a permanent policy and that he may ultimately avoid a worst-case trade war that grinds down economies and sends inflation higher.
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But Trump is still pressing ahead with other tariffs scheduled to take effect April 2. And the growing pile of dizzying back-and-forth moves on tariffs is only amping up the uncertainty. It was just on Monday that Trump said there was “no room” left for negotiations that could lower the tariffs on Mexico and Canada, which took effect Tuesday.
“These exemptions don’t do much to resolve the general air of uncertainty,” said Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment officer at BMO Wealth Management. “Businesses will still be cautious in the current environment until a lot more of the tariff picture is clear.” US businesses are already saying they’re confronting “chaos” because of all the uncertainty coming out of Washington. while US households are bracing for higher inflation because of the tariffs, which is sapping their confidence.
Such reports have raised the possibility of a worst-case scenario known as “stagflation,” where the economy is stagnating and inflation is high. It’s something that policy makers at the Federal Reserve don’t have a good tool to fix.“ Much will depend on whether these new tariffs prove temporary or are toned down,” according to strategists at BNP Paribas. “But even if they are ultimately removed,
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