Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on March 04, 2025 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Stocks resumed their pullback on Thursday as investors awaited more information on the state of President Donald Trump’s tariff measures and what they could mean for the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 115 points lower, or 0.3%, after plunging more than 600 points at session lows. The S&P 500 shed 0.9%, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.1%.
The major averages have each lost more than 2% this week as U.S. tariffs on Canadian, Mexican and Chinese imports took effect. Canada and China responded with retaliatory levies of its own, while Mexico said it would unveil measures over the weekend.
Despite this week’s slide, the market got a boost on Wednesday after the White House it would grant a one-month delay for tariffs on automakers whose cars comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday that one-month exemptions for more than just carmakers would be likely. Lutnick also said that Mexico and Canada could only face reciprocal tariffs planned by Trump in April if the countries make enough progress on stopping the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. Stocks came off lows in Thursday’s session following Lutnick’s comments.
“You’re just having confusion,” said Keith Lerner, chief market strategist at Truist. “That confusion is permeating into the day-to-day swings of the market.”
A continued unwind of the popular artificial intelligence trade that has boosted the market for more than a year also hurt stocks on Thursday.
Notably, chipmaker Marvell Technology dropped more than 16% after the company issued mixed first-quarter guidance. Other semiconductor builders such as ON Semiconductor, Taiwan Semiconductor and Nvidia also slid.
On top of that, a string of recent economic reports raised alarm that Trump’s policies could hinder the U.S. economy. Those came ahead of Friday’s closely watched jobs report.
The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book and the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing reading both indicated fear of rising input costs because of the tariffs. Data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas released Thursday showed layoff announcements soared to 2020 highs, which the outplacement firm found was driven by Trump and billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to shrink the federal government’s workforce.
