Stan Choe, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” is fast approaching, with stock markets falling Monday from Wall Street to Wellington, New Zealand.
In New York, the S&P 500 fell 0.6% on Friday as one of the worst losses in the past few years. We are doing well, losing nearly 6% after the first three months of the year. This could be the worst quarter in nearly three years.
The index had fallen by 1.7%, but reduced losses as the morning progressed. The Dow Jones industrial average had risen 43 points (0.1%) as of 11:30 a.m. However, sharp slides from Tesla, Nvidia and other influential major tech stocks reduced Nasdaq composites by 1.6%.
The US stock market shaking continued to sell out, and early Monday was global as there are concerns that tariffs coming from Trump on Wednesday would worsen inflation and crush economic growth. Trump says he’s moving ahead as he wants more manufacturing jobs in the US.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index fell by 4%. Korean Kospi sinks 3%, while French CAC40 fell 1.6%. In New Zealand, the NZX 50 slipped a more modest 0.1%.
Instead of stocks that could be part of the most dangerous investment possible, the prices of what is considered a safer bet when the economy appears to be unstable. Gold rose again, temporarily climbing $3,160 per ounce.
Treasury bond prices also rose, resulting in lower yields. The 2010 Treasury yield fell to 4.22% from 4.27% in the second half of Friday, down from around 4.80% in January. As tariff concerns are built up, it is falling.
On Wednesday, the US is set to launch what Trump calls “mutual” tariffs. This is adjusted to match what each country sees as the burden on him, including value-added taxes. Much is still unknown, including what the US government will do on “Liberation Day.”
At Goldman Sachs, economists expect Trump to announce mutual tariffs of an average of 15%. They also raised forecasts for inflation and lowered it for the end of the year US economic growth.
Overall, they say that they currently have a 35% chance of a recession from a 20% forecast from previous forecasts, “reflecting decline in growth, a decline in confidence and statements from White House officials.”
If the April 2nd tariffs are less troublesome than investors fear – Trump, for example, may not include an additional tariff increase in China. But if they end up in the worst case scenario and it gets so scary that companies start cutting their workforce, what hasn’t happened so far could sink even more.
Of course, there is a possibility that April 2nd will rarely clear up uncertainty. According to other strategists at Michael Wilson and Morgan Stanley, it could be a mere “stepping stone for further negotiations” rather than a major “clearing event” for the market.
“This means policy uncertainty and the risk of growth are likely to last. How much of a problem,” Wilson wrote in the report.
One concern is that even if Trump’s tariffs are harsher than feared, all the uncertainty created by them could freeze spending for US households and businesses.
Either way, some familiar names were leading downwards on Wall Street on Monday.
Tesla fell 4.7% to 37.8% in the previous year. This was one of the worst performers of the S&P 500. This has been largely present so far this year due to fear that the electric vehicle manufacturer’s brand is intertwined with CEO Elon Musk.
Musk is leading the US government’s efforts to cut spending, and he is a target for increasing political rage, resulting in protests flocking Tesla’s showrooms.
It’s a sharp drop following a surge of around 90% in the weeks of election day in November, when there was an idea that Musk and Trump’s close ties could help the company’s finances. Tesla stocks have almost returned to their location on November 5th.
Other big tech stocks have also helped to pull the market down. They were at the heart of recent divestments due to criticism that their stock prices were too high. Critics pointed out that in recent years their prices have risen much faster than already burgeoning profits.
Nvidia, who has ridden a frenzy around artificial intelligence technology to become one of Wall Street’s most influential stocks, has dropped by 4.1% to cause losses in the past year to 21.7%.
The company’s stocks that customers need to feel washed away enough to spend have been one of Monday’s worst performers so far this year.
United lost 4.8%, while Delta gave up 2.8%.
Cooper was on the winning side of Wall Street, but leaps 16.6% after mortgage servicer said he was being bought by mortgage company Rocket in a $9.4 billion all-stock deal. The deal came weeks after Rocket acquired real estate listing company Redfin, with Rocket’s shares down 7.8%.
In overseas stock markets, after a powerful earthquake, centered on Myanmar, rattled the area, Thailand’s set lost 1.5%, and in places like Bangkok, it caused widespread destruction of the country and reduced damage.
The Italian Thai development stock, partially constructed developers of a collapsed 30-storey high-rise office building, reduced by 26.9%. Thai officials said they were investigating the cause of the disaster and said dozens of construction workers have gone missing.
AP writers Junzhe Jiang and Matt Ott contributed.
Original issue: March 31, 2025 7:43am EDT
