Stan Choe, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks fell Friday after President Donald Trump threatened 50% tariffs in the European Union.
The S&P 500 was on track for the worst week of the past seven years, down 0.8% in noon trading. The Dow Jones industrial average was 284 points (0.7%) as of 11:20am Eastern time, while the Nasdaq Composite was 1.1% lower.
Trump threatened tariffs before the US stock market opened, saying that trade talks with the European Union “will not go anywhere,” and that on his true social platform, “straight 50%” tariffs could come into effect on June 1. The European Union is one of the largest trading partners in the United States.
Stocks quickly fell in Europe, with the French CAC 40 index losing 1.8%, and the threat shaking the futures market for US stock indexes. The US stock index did not fall below its European counterparts, but the damage was still widespread, with four of the five stocks in the S&P 500 sinking down.
Apple fell 2.5%, one of the heaviest weights on the index, especially after Trump chased the company. He said he is pushing Apple CEO Tim Cook to move production of iPhones sold in the country to the US, and that he has not warned of tariffs “Apple must pay the US.”
Trump has been criticizing businesses individually when he is unhappy with how they are behaving because of the uncertainty his tariffs and his trade war has created. He previously told Walmart that retailers should “eat tariffs” along with China after saying they needed to raise prices to cover the increase in import costs.
Deckers Outdoor, the company behind the Hoka and Uggs brands, has become one of the latest companies that means that all uncertainties about the economy will not provide financial forecasts for next year. Instead, it provided forecasts for next year, and they did not meet the analysts’ expectations for revenue and profits.
The company lowered its share price 20.3% despite reporting profits and revenues for the recent quarter being stronger than expected.
Ross stores fell 13.8% after subtracting full-year financial forecasts, citing how many more than half of the items on sale are in China. “If tariffs remain at such a high level, we expect to put pressure on profitability,” CEO Jim Conroy said.
Off-price retailers gave profit forecasts for the current quarter, including hits from tariffs, and did not meet analyst expectations. The company cut its share price despite reporting higher profits in the most recent quarter than expected.
“The volatility of trade policy and its corresponding impact on the economy, consumers and our profitability is highly unpredictable,” Conroy said.
Wall Street’s winning side was Intuit, which rose 8.6% after analysts expected it to be thanks to a strong tax season after the company behind Turbotax and Credit Karma reported strong profits in the recent quarter. Perhaps more importantly, Intuit has made its revenue and profit forecasts over the entire fiscal year.
Trump’s latest tariff threat is stirring Wall Street after recovering almost all of the losses he took earlier due to the trade war. The S&P 500 fell about 20% below that record at one point last month when they were worried about whether Trump’s strict tariffs would cause a global recession. The index has since returned to within a record high of 3% after Trump suspended tariffs in many countries, particularly China.
In the bond market, Treasury yields fell after several exchanges. The 2010 Treasury yield eased from 4.54% to 4.51% in the second half of Thursday.
Some were up high earlier this week with concerns about how Washington’s efforts to cut taxes would add trillions of dollars to U.S. government debt. The higher the Treasury yield, the higher the mortgage and fees for other types of loans, which can slow the economy. It can also discourage investors from paying high prices for stocks and other investments.
Foreign stock markets had mixed indexes in Asia, where markets were shut down before Trump issued the latest tariff threat. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.5%, while Shanghai’s inventory fell 0.9%.
Meanwhile, gold prices rose 1.6% as investors were looking for a safer place to park their cash.
AP writers Matt Ott and Eng Juntzhe contributed.
Original issue: May 23, 2025 8:42am EDT
