April 4 (UPI) — U.S. markets plummetted for the second consecutive day as continued fallout from President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs continued to weigh traders.
As of 12:30 p.m. EDT the Dow Jones was down 1,558.04 points, or 3.84%, while the S&P 500 fell 4.54%, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 4.65%.
Boeing and Caterpillar, both heavy exporters to China, led the Dow lower, while technology companies like Apple and Nvidia fell as well. Tesla stocks also sank.
The 10-year Treasury yield rescinded 4% Friday as investors made safety grabs of bonds, which lowered rates and lifted prices.
The Nasdaq Composite tripped 7.8% this week as the tariff strategy maneuvered investors to reduce the possibility of risks, the S&P 500 slipped 6.4%, Dow Industrials slid 5.3% and both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are headed for their lowest weekly performances since 2020, and are in their sixth negative week of the last seven.
Global markets were also down on Friday as China’s commerce ministry announced Friday it will put a 34% tariff on all U.S. products, which matches the tariffs Trump put on China Wednesday.
China’s attempts to answer Trump’s tariffs went past just reciprocity as it added several companies to its “unreliable entities list” of people, companies and organizations it deems have violated market rules or commitments, and further opened an investigation into DuPont, which felt the pinch as its shares dropped 12%.
JPMorgan raised the odds of a recession this year to 60% from 40% Thursday, which followed the worst day on the stock market since 2020.
The markets continued to decline despite the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting just before the opening bell that non-farm payrolls expanded by 228,000 in March, which was above forecast, but the unemployment rate also ticked up to 4.2%.
