S&P 500 companies lost a combined $2.4 trillion in stock market value in Thursday's selloff on Wall Street, their biggest one-day loss in value since the emerging coronavirus pandemic sent global markets into a tailspin on March 16, 2020.
The S&P 500 ended down almost 5% after U.S. President Donald Trump's ignited fears of an all-out trade war and a global economic recession.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1679.39 points, or 3.98%, to 40,545.93, the S&P 500 lost 274.45 points, or 4.84%, to 5,396.52 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 1,050.44 points, or 5.97%, to 16,550.44.
Market Movers
Stocks plunged Thursday after President Donald Trump announced across-the-board tariffs of 10% on all imports, and "reciprocal" tariffs on U.S. trade partners that were higher than expected.
Trump said the reciprocal tariff on China would be 34%, the European Union would see tariffs of 20%, and Japan would be hit with a levy of 24%. The rates for Taiwan and Vietnam will be 32% and 46%, respectively.
That triggered a selloff. These stocks moved the most:
Tech stocks took a major hit. Apple, which produces most of its iPhones in China, was down 9.3%, Amazon.com dropped 9%, and $Meta Platforms(META) declined 9%. Posting wider declines were personal computer makers Dell Technologies, down 19%, and HP Inc., off 15%.
Sneaker and athletic apparel maker Nike declined 14%. Factories in Vietnam made about 50% of Nike footwear and 28% of its apparel products in fiscal 2024. Deckers Outdoor, the maker of Hoka sneakers and Ugg boots, dropped 14%. Lululemon Athletica tumbled 9.6%.
Bank stocks fell sharply as investors weighed the economic ramifications. Bank of America fell 11%, JPMorgan Chase was down 7%, and Wells Fargo dropped 9%.
Semiconductor stocks traded lower. Nvidia was down 7.8%, Advanced Micro Devices fell 8.9%, and Qualcomm fell 9.5%.
Tesla was down 5.5%. The leading U.S. maker of electric vehicles closed up 5.3% on Wednesday following a Politico report that said Tesla CEO Elon Musk plans to step away from his government role in the coming weeks.
Lucid Group delivered 3,109 vehicles in the first quarter, and produced 2,212 vehicles, plus more than 600 additional vehicles in transit to Saudi Arabia for final assembly. The EV company also said it planned to offer $1 billion of convertible senior notes. The stock declined 3.3%.
Discount retailer Dollar Tree, which receives the majority of its direct imports from China, was down 13%. The company said last month it was implementing strategies to mitigate the blow from tariffs. Five Below fell 28%.
Megaretailers were mixed on the tariffs news. Walmart was down 2.8%, Costco Wholesale rose 0.2%, and Target was off 11%. The companies have warned that tariffs will lead to higher prices on their products.
RH sank 40% after fiscal fourth-quarter earnings missed analysts' estimates and the home-furnishings company issued conservative revenue forecasts for the first quarter and current fiscal year. "While we expect a higher-risk business environment this year due to the uncertainty caused by tariffs, market volatility and inflation risk, we believe it's important to separate the signal from the noise," said CEO Gary Friedman, who added that RH has been "operating in the worst housing market in almost 50 years."
Lyft declined 11% to $11.48. Analyst at BofA Securities downgraded the ride-hailing company to Underperform from Buy and reduced their price target to $10.50 from $17.50. The analysts cited near-term pressures related to rising competition in the autonomous vehicle market.
Lamb Weston rose 10% after fiscal third-quarter adjusted earnings at the maker of french fries topped Wall Street estimates. The company maintained its fiscal-year for adjusted earnings of $3.05 and $3.20 a share, and sales between $6.35 billion and $6.45 billion. Lamb Weston was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500.
Market News
AppLovin Confirms Indication of Interest in TikTok Purchase
AppLovin confirmed that it has expressed interest in acquiring TikTok in all markets outside of China to President Trump as the deadline to sell or shut the social-media app approaches.
The mobile advertising technology company on Thursday said that the indication of interest it provided is preliminary.
"There can be no assurance that a transaction involving the company will proceed," AppLovin said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Intel, TSMC Tentatively Agree to Form Chipmaking Joint Venture
Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co have reached a preliminary agreement to form a joint venture to operate the U.S. chipmaker's factories, the Information reported on Thursday, citing two people involved in the discussions.
TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, will take a 20% stake in the new company, the report said.
The White House and Commerce department officials have been pressing TSMC and Intel to strike a deal to resolve the long-running crisis at Intel, the report added.
Microsoft Pulls Back on Data Centers From Chicago to Jakarta
Microsoft Corp. has pulled back on data center projects around the world, suggesting the company is taking a harder look at its plans to build the server farms powering artificial intelligence and the cloud.
The software company has recently halted talks for, or delayed development of, sites in Indonesia, the UK, Australia, Illinois, North Dakota and Wisconsin, according to people familiar with the situation.
Microsoft is widely seen as a leader in commercializing AI services, largely thanks to its close partnership with OpenAI. Investors closely track Microsoft’s spending plans to get a sense of long-term customer demand for cloud and AI services.