Wall Street benchmarks slumped overnight, ending with the largest single-day percentage losses in years, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs ignited fears of an all-out trade war and a global economic recession.
A combined $2.4 trillion in stock market value was wiped from S&P 500 companies, as the benchmark suffered its largest one-day percentage decline since June 2020.
Wall Street slumped on Thursday following US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement.Credit: AP
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has also not had a worse one-day collapse since June 2020, while the Nasdaq Composite posted its largest percentage decline on any day since the coronavirus pandemic sent global markets into a tailspin in March 2020.
The trigger was Trump’s 10 per cent tariff on most U.S. imports and much higher levies on dozens of other countries, which threaten to unleash a global economic upheaval.
China vowed retaliation, as did the European Union, which faces a 20 per cent duty. South Korea, Mexico, India and several other trading partners said they would hold off for now as they seek concessions before the targeted tariffs take effect on April 9.
Wild swings are expected in the coming days: the CBOE Volatility index, known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, closed above 30 points for the first time since August.
Reuters
