Wall Street ended the week with another sharp decline for major stock market indices as investors continued to register concern about Donald Trump’s tariffs and weak consumer sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all declined by between 1.7% and 2.7%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq bore the brunt of the damage, with Big Tech players especially hard-hit. Amazon fell 4%, Alphabet 5% and Apple 3%. Major media companies like Disney and Comcast declined by 2%, while Warner Bros. Discovery fell 6%.
The dashboard of 50 or so stocks across media and tech tracked daily by Deadline showed a sea of red numbers. The New York Times Co. was the lone exception, registering a tiny gain of .02%, or a single penny.
Tariffs, which hit automakers this week, are unsettling markets. But the outlook for consumers and stubbornly high inflation are adding to the uneasiness. A key gauge of inflation is called the Personal Consumption Expenditures index. It showed that prices went up more than expected in February, climbing 2.8% over the same month in 2024. The mark has remained well above the Fed’s stated target of 2%.
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The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index hit its lowest level since 2022, with most respondents citing the darkening picture around the broader economy as their main concern.
In part due to inflation, the Fed opted last week to maintain current interest rates, though it expects two rounds of cuts later this year. At its March meeting, Chairman Jerome Powell said the impact of tariffs would likely be “transitory” and the risk of a recession in his estimation is low.
President Trump and senior administration officials have pressed on with tariffs despite worries on the part of domestic automakers, let alone companies in other sectors. He has been hyping up next Wednesday’s anticipated date when retaliatory tariffs will be introduced by the U.S., billing it as “Liberation Day” and promising citizens “freedom” from being “cheated” by other countries. An overwhelming majority of economists and market watchers expect that businesses and consumers will be burdened by tariffs and an escalating trade war that is likely to result from them.