The New York stock market took a sharp nosedive on Thursday.
The previous day’s surge, fueled by U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 90-day delay on reciprocal tariffs, quickly evaporated. Investor sentiment soured after the White House clarified that the tariff rate on Chinese goods would be 145%, not 125% as initially reported, reigniting fears of an escalating U.S.-China trade war.
While some decline was expected due to profit-taking following the previous day’s rally, the market plummeted far more than anticipated.
Trump’s protectionist policies and the ongoing tariff disputes continue to cast a shadow over Wall Street.
Sudden Reversal
Following the correction to China’s tariff rate, investors seemed to suddenly realize the intensifying trade tensions between the U.S. and China, triggering a wave of panic selling.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, comprising 30 blue-chip stocks, tumbled below the 40,000 mark, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq crashed through the 17,000 level in a single session.
The Dow plummeted 1,014.79 points (2.50%) to close at 39,593.66, while the Nasdaq nosedived 737.66 points (4.31%) to finish at 16,387.31.
The S&P 500, a broader measure of market performance, sank 188.85 points (3.46%) to end at 5,268.05.
Despite the day’s steep losses, the three major indices still posted significant gains compared to their Tuesday closing levels, thanks to the previous day’s sharp rally.
Over the past two days, the Dow surged 5.2%, the S&P 500 jumped 5.7%, and the Nasdaq skyrocketed 7.3%.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), often referred to as Wall Street’s fear gauge, spiked 7.10 points (21.12%) to 40.72.
M7 Take a Hit
The “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks all suffered significant losses.
Tesla shares plunged $19.80 (7.27%) to $252.40, while Nvidia tumbled $6.76 (5.91%) to $107.57.
Apple shed $8.43 (4.24%) to close at $190.42, and Alphabet slid $5.69 (3.53%) to $155.37.
Meta Platforms plummeted $39.48 (6.74%) to $546.29, while Amazon dropped $9.88 (5.17%) to $181.22.
Microsoft saw the smallest decline among the M7, falling $9.14 (2.34%) to finish at $381.35.
The market capitalization gap between Apple and Microsoft narrowed to approximately $29 billion.
At the closing bell, Apple’s market capitalization stood at $2.864 trillion, while Microsoft’s reached $2.835 trillion.
Despite the day’s plund, Tesla, Nvidia, and Apple still boasted impressive gains over the past two trading sessions.
Tesla surged 13.8%, Nvidia jumped 11.7%, and Apple rallied 10.4%.
