By Vicky Ge Huang
Stocks fell further on Friday after China moved to retaliate against U.S. tariffs, dashing hopes for a speedy resolution to the trade war.
Major indexes opened sharply lower, brushing off a better-than-expected jobs report for March. The economy added 228,000 jobs last month, well above the Wall Street consensus estimate of 140,000.
China said it would impose an additional 34% tariff on all imported U.S. goods, matching President Trump's latest levies on Chinese imports. The extra tariff is set to take effect on April 10.
"Obviously the markets are just simply not taking P's and Q's today from the Labor data whatsoever," said David Bahnsen, chief investment officer of The Bahnsen Group in Newport Beach, Calif. "This is entirely around the China reciprocal tariffs."
Wall Street is set to face another day of significant losses. The S&P 500 dropped 2.9%
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 3.2%. The tech-focused Nasdaq is on pace to end the day in a bear market, meaning the benchmark is down 20% from its previous highs.
Investors continued to search for safety in government bonds and gold amid the market turmoil. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, a leading barometer of economic conditions, fell below 4% for the first time since last October, suggesting heightened fears of a recession. Gold slid but held close to record highs.
The declines come after U.S. markets suffered on Thursday their steepest declines since 2020, with investors fearing that President Trump's new tariff plans will trigger a global trade war and drag the U.S. economy into recession.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 04, 2025 09:49 ET (13:49 GMT)
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