Stan Choe, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. stock market sales worsened Monday. Wall Street is questioning President Donald Trump’s desire to endure the economy to get what he wants.
The S&P 500 dropped 2.1% in noon trading, except for the worst week since September. The Dow Jones industrial average was 405 points (0.9%) as of 11:20am Eastern time, while the Nasdaq Composite was 3.6% lower.
The main measure of the US stock market has been on track with seven or more swings up or down over 1% in the last eight days after a horrific stretch dominated by Trump’s on and off tariffs. The worry is that whip saw movements directly hurt the economy or create enough uncertainty to lead American businesses and consumers to economically unparalysis. The S&P 500 is down 8% from the highest ever set on February 19th.
The economy has already given some signals of weakness, primarily through research showing an increase in pessimism. And a widespread collection of real-time metrics compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta suggests that the US economy may already be shrinking.
Asked over the weekend if he was hoping for a recession in 2025, Trump told the Fox News Channel: “I don’t want to predict such things. We’re doing so much, so there’s a transition period. We’re bringing wealth back to America. That’s a big deal,” he added. “It’s going to take a little time. It’s going to take a little time.”
Trump says he wants to take his manufacturing job back to the US, among other reasons he was given for tariffs. His Treasury Secretary, Scott Bescent, also said the economy may go through a period of “detox” as it is separated from government addiction to spending.
The US job market certainly shows stable employment at this point, with the economy running at a solid speed last year. But economists have marked forecasts on how the economy will function this year.
At Goldman Sachs, for example, David Merrick reduced US economic growth estimates to 1.7% from 2.2% in 2025 at the end of the previous year.
He sees five opportunities for recession over the next year and has raised it slightly as “the White House has the option to recapture policy changes” if the risks to the economy begin to “become more serious.”
“There are always multiple units in the market, but now almost all of them take back seats at the tariffs,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investments at e-Trade at Morgan Stanley.
Worries about hitting Wall Street have hurt some of the biggest stars ever. In recent years, large-scale high-tech stocks and companies that have been riding the artificial intelligence frenzy have fallen sharply.
Nvidia fell another 4.9% on Monday, bringing its previous year loss to 20.2%. This is a sudden drop from the nearly 820% surge over 2023 and 2024.
Elon Musk’s Tesla fell 8.7%, increasing its 2025 loss to more than 40%. After getting bump after the first election in hopes that Musk and Trump’s close ties will help the electric vehicle company, the stock is worried that the brand is entangled with Mask. For example, protests against the US government’s efforts to cull its workforce and other moves have targeted Tesla dealers.
The inventory of businesses that rely on US households felt good enough about finances and was also sharply overwhelmed. United Airlines lost 8.3% and cruise ship operator Carnival fell by 8.2%.
It’s not just stock that we struggle with. Investors are lowering prices for all kinds of investments that sometimes halts, such as Bitcoin, have previously gained momentum. Cryptocurrency’s value returned to $80,000 from over $106,000 in December.
Instead, investors are waived US Treasury bonds as they are looking for something that could raise prices when the economy is under pressure. This has resulted in a sharp increase in Treasurys prices, resulting in a reduction in yields.
The Treasury yield fell again to 4.21% from 4.32% in the second half on Friday. The economy has grown, and it has fallen since January, when January was approaching 4.80%. That’s a big move for the bond market.
But all uncertainty has not stopped trading on Wall Street. Redfin’s shares jumped to 68.1% after Rocket said it would buy a digital real estate agent in an all-stock deal that valued it at $1.75 billion. Rocket’s stock sank 14.9%.
ServiceNow fell 6.3% after AI platform companies said they were buying Ai-Assistant Maker Moveworks with $2.85 billion in cash and stock.
In overseas stock markets, the European index has declined largely after mixed sessions in Asia.
Hong Kong’s index fell 1.8% and Shanghai’s 0.2% after China said its consumer prices had fallen for the first time in 13 months. This is the latest weakness signal for the world’s second largest economy. This is because early timing of New Year’s holidays has worsened sustained weak demand.
AP business writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Original issue: March 10th, 2025 10:50am EDT
