Dow falls 800 points, heads for worst day since December as trade war intensifies: Live updates
U.S. stocks saw losses mount on Tuesday as President Donald Trump’s tariffs on key trade partners took effect and prompted retaliatory measures, escalating fears of a global trade war and the national economy cracking.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
dropped 820 points, or 1.9%, building on Monday’s plunge of nearly 650 points. The S&P 500
shed 2%. Both are on track to notch their worst sessions of 2025.
The Nasdaq Composite
lost 1.9%. That put the tech-heavy index on track to close in correction territory, which is when it falls 10% from a recent high.
Tuesday’s nosedive comes after the U.S. instituted 25% duties on Canada and Mexico that took effect at midnight. Trump also slapped an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods.
China retaliated with additional tariffs of up to 15% on some U.S. products. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country would also put a 25% levy on U.S. goods. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the U.S.′ southern neighbor would respond with tariffs and other tools that would be announced this weekend.
Shares of GM
and Ford
dropped more than 3% and 2%, respectively, building on declines seen this year amid concerns that tariffs would raise costs. Chipotle
, which sources about half of its avocados from Mexico, slipped more than 2%.
The tariffs prompted a broad sell-off on Tuesday. About 4 out of every 5 S&P 500 stocks traded down, while the small-cap focused Russell 2000
dropped more than 2%.
Tech names felt the brunt of investors’ recent shift away from U.S. stocks, underscoring the Nasdaq’s recent fall. Notably, artificial intelligence darling Nvidia
pulled back more than 2% in the session. That pushed the megapcap tech titan’s loss for 2025 to more than 17%, including a decline of more than 14% notched over just the last five sessions alone.
This week’s sell-off pushed the S&P 500 into the red for 2025 and the Dow near flat on the year. Because investors hoped that a last-minute deal could be reached to sidestep the full taxes on Mexico and Canada, losses steepened in Monday’s session after Trump confirmed the long-awaited levies were coming. Paired with soft economic data released recently, the tariffs have given market participants further reason for worry about the health of the U.S. economy.
“While Tuesday’s tariffs are a go, it remains very unclear on just how long these tariffs will remain,” said Clark Geranen, chief market strategist at CalBay Investments. “We tend to believe these are more of a negotiation tactic and not the start of a long and drawn out reciprocal trade war. Still, in these situations, investors sell first and ask questions later.”
With Tuesday’s losses, the S&P 500 now trades below where it finished on Election Day in November, when voters headed to the polls to return Trump to office. Traders will closely monitor Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday night for statements about the tariffs, which were a core pillar of his campaign.
Financial stocks in the S&P 500
on Tuesday were poised to notch their biggest one-day loss since 2023′s regional banking crisis.
The sector tumbled 3.8% in late morning trading, making it the worst performer of the 11 that comprise the broad index. If that holds through session close, it would mark the sector’s worst day since March 9, 2023. That was during the week that Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, which sparked a panic among investors in regional banks.
KKR
and Citigroup
led the sector down with declines of more than 9% and 8%, respectively. Bank of America
followed with a drop of nearly 7.5%.
Both the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE)
and SPDR S&P Banking ETF (KBE) slid more than 4% in Tuesday’s session.
— Alex Harring
The S&P 500 Consumer Staples is one of the few bright spots during Tuesday’s continued downturn, hovering just above flat while the remaining ten sectors traded in the red and the broader market sank more than 1.5%.
Boosting the consumer staples sector is Walgreens
, which popped 6.3% on news that the drugstore chain is nearing a deal with private equity firm Sycamore Partners to be taken private for roughly $10 billion. The parties are aiming to complete the deal as soon as Thursday, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Food companies General Mills
, Hershey
, Mondelez
and PepsiCo
each jumped more than 2%. Household and consumer products makers Proctor & Gamble
and Colgate-Palmolive
also each traded roughly 2% higher.
— Pia Singh
President Donald Trump on Tuesday falsely claimed that U.S. banks are not able do business in the Canada after the U.S. issued a 25% on imports from that country.
“Canada doesn’t allow American Banks to do business in Canada, but their banks flood the American Market. Oh, that seems fair to me, doesn’t it?” the President wrote on Truth Social.
To be sure, while Canada’s banking sector is tightly regulated, American banks are allowed to operate there.
— Lisa Kailai Han
The four largest lenders in the U.S., also known as the money center banks, suffered sharp losses Tuesday.
Citigroup
tumbled as much as 8% Tuesday, Wells Fargo
dropped as much as 6.8%, Bank of America
slumped 6.5% and JPMorgan
retreated 5.2%.
All four have now fallen more than 10% from their recent 52-week highs, meaning the stocks are now in a correction, according to conventional wisdom on Wall Street. Declines of 20% or more are regarded as marking a bear market.
At Tuesday’s lows, Citigroup was down about 18.3% from its mid-February 52-week high; Wells Fargo was off 12.1% from its early February high; Bank of America had fallen 11.9% and JPMorgan 11.8% from their recent highs.
— Scott Schnipper
The Dow
’s drop on Tuesday threatened to take away the last of its advance this year.
The blue-chip index dropped about 1.5% in the session. With the loss, the 30-stock average traded around flat on the year and at points turned red for 2025.
— Alex Harring
Stocks are consistently selling off as Tuesday’s trading session begins. And semiconductor stocks — which have been the market’s darling over the past year — are breaking out to near multiyear relative lows, according to BTIG chief market technician Jonathan Krinsky.
“Barring another late day reversal like we saw on Friday, today will be the seventh day in the last eight sessions where SPX closed below its open. The slope of the SPX’s 50 DMA has now inflected lower, another sign of medium-term trend deterioration. We continue to see near-term downside risk to the 200 DMA (5723), and today’s action only emboldens that view,” Krinsky said. “Perhaps most importantly, semis in both cap-weighted and equally-weighted terms are at or near multi-year relative lows.”
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH)
which tracks the performance of the 25 largest and most liquid US exchange-listed companies, is essentially flat year-over-year, Krinsky noted.
“SMH has made zero net progress over the last year. A breakdown at this point would leave much of the buyers over the last year underwater, creating significant overhead resistance,” he added.
The equal-weight SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD)
versus the equal-weight Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP)
is also close to breakdown. “So it’s more than just an NVDA story,” he said.
— Pia Singh
Stocks kicked off Tuesday’s trading session in the red.
The Dow
and S&P 500
each slipped 0.8% shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET. The Nasdaq Composite
dropped 1.1%.
— Alex Harring
Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
For the full list, read here.
— Pia Singh
The price of bitcoin failed to recover the $85,000 level — where it traded before President Donald Trump’s announcement of a U.S. crypto reserve sent it soaring — after a sell-off driven by tariff concerns knocked it down.
Bitcoin
was last lower by 2% on Tuesday at $83,508.78, according to Coin Metrics, and off its all-time high by 23%.
Coinbase
and Robinhood
fell 2% and 4%, respectively, in premarket trading. Strategy
, formerly known as MicroStrategy, lost 4%.
Investors and analysts warn that economic uncertainty could keep its hold on bitcoin throughout March, with the crypto industry absent a specific catalyst. After reaching its record in January, it posted its worst month since 2022 in February.
For more, read our full story here.
— Tanaya Macheel
Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX)
, shot up as President Donald Trump’s tariffs took effect.
The index rose more than 1 point on Tuesday, the first day with Trump’s 25% levies on Mexico and Canada in action. The VIX saw its biggest one-day spike of 2025 on Monday, jumping more than 3 points after Trump reaffirmed plans for the long-awaited import taxes to go forward, which hampered hopes of a last-minute deal.
— Alex Harring
Nvidia
continued sliding before the bell on Tuesday, placing downward pressure on the stock market.
The megacap tech giant dropped more than 2% in premarket trading. The stock has tumbled more than 12% over the last week, bringing its 2025 loss to around 15%.
— Alex Harring
Target
reported fourth-quarter results that beat expectations, but the stock was about flat as the company also warned of softness in its February sales. The company earned $2.41 per share on revenue of $30.92 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG expected a profit of $2.26 per share on revenue of $30.82 billion.
— Fred Imbert
Tesla
shares were down 3% in the premarket after data from the China Passenger Car Association showed the company’s sales of vehicles made in China dropped nearly 50% in February year on year. Overall, the company sold more than 30,000 of these vehicles — the lowest level in more than two years.
— Fred Imbert
European stock markets were broadly lower Tuesday morning, with knock-on global effects expected after the U.S. slapped 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico and raised duties on China.
The regional Stoxx 600 index was 0.82% lower at 8:45 a.m. London time, with Stoxx autos down 2.77%. Utilities and food and beverage stocks were rare bright spots, up 0.74% and 0.64%, respectively.
Germany’s DAX dropped 1.5%, France’s CAC 40 was nearly 1% lower, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 fell 0.66%.
— Jenni Reid
Japanese stocks led declines in Asia-Pacific markets, after U.S. President Donald Trump made it clear that tariffs on Mexico and Canada would go into effect as planned.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index plunged 1.20% to end the day at 37,331.18, while the broader Topix index lost 0.71% to close at 2,710.18.
South Korea’s Kospi index ended the day 0.15% lower at 2,528.92, while the small-cap Kosdaq retreated 0.81% to 737.90.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.16% in its last hour of trade.
Investors kept a watch on Chinese stocks as the mainland kicks off its annual parliamentary gathering, known as the “Two Sessions.” Mainland China’s CSI 300 index ended the day flat at 3,885.22.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
ended the day 0.58% lower at 8,198.10.
Indian’s benchmark Nifty 50 was trading down 0.28%, while the BSE Sensex index lost 0.27% as at 1.15 p.m. local time.
— Amala Balakrishner
CoreWeave, which provides cloud-based Nvidia
graphics processing units to companies such as Meta
and Microsoft
, filed to go public on the Nasdaq on Monday afternoon.
The company chose “CRWV” as its new ticker symbol. CoreWeave quickly rose in popularity after OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT. Since then, the company has been increasing its focus on artificial intelligence and graphics rendering to meet demand.
Last year, CoreWeave generated $1.92 billion in revenue, 62% of which came from Microsoft
.
CoreWeave’s initial public offering debut comes amid a broad market sell-off. On Monday, Nvidia fell nearly 9%, shedding $265 billion in market capitalization, after President Donald Trump confirmed tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico would officially take effect on Tuesday.
— Jordan Novet, Lisa Kailai Han
These are the stocks moving the most in after-hours trading:
— Lisa Kailai Han
Stock futures traded above the flatline Monday night.
Dow futures rose close to 0.2% shortly after 6 p.m. ET, as did futures linked to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100.
— Lisa Kailai Han
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Data also provided by
Financial stocks head for worst session since regional banking crisis
Consumer staples sector stays afloat amid sell-off, buoyed by Walgreens
Trump falsely claims that U.S. banks cannot do business in Canada
Money center banks all suffer corrections in early trading Tuesday
Dow erases 2025 gain
BTIG: S&P 500 is headed for seventh straight loss, semis are reaching multiyear relative lows
Stocks open lower
Stellantis, Nvidia, Tesla are among the stocks moving in premarket trading
Bitcoin erases all of its gain from Trump crypto reserve announcement
Wall Street’s fear gauge rises as tariffs on Canada and Mexico begin
Nvidia extends losses in premarket
Target beats on earnings, but warns of soft February sales
Tesla falls after steep decline in China-made vehicle sales
Europe stocks lower
Japan stocks drop 1.2%, leading declines in Asia as Trump tariffs dent sentiment
AI cloud-based GPU provider CoreWeave files for IPO on Monday afternoon
Stocks making the biggest moves after the bell: GitLab, Okta and AST SpaceMobile
Stock futures are higher Monday night
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COMP
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The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was on track to close in correction territory — defined as a drop of 10% from a recent high — on Tuesday, leading major stock indexes lower in a selloff tied largely to fears that President Trump’s aggressive tariffs and retaliation for trade partners will slam economic growth.
The Nasdaq
COMP
-1.51%
was down 1.7% at 18,045 in morning trade. A close below 18,156.50 would confirm a correction, with the threshold marking a 10% drop from the index’s record close of 20,173.89 set on Dec. 16. A correction turns into a bear market if an asset falls 20% from a recent high.
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Dow falls 800 points as Trump’s tariffs threaten a dangerous trade war
Markets
Fear & Greed Index
Latest Market News
US stocks tanked Tuesday morning after President Donald Trump made good on his threat to levy tariffs on Canada and Mexico, paving the way for a global trade war as leaders of both trading partners threatened retaliation.
The hefty tariffs imposed by the Trump administration could contribute to a crash in the global economy, similar to the Great Depression of the 1930s, said Andrew Wilson, the deputy secretary-general of the International Chamber of Commerce, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“Our deep concern is that this could be the start of a downward spiral that puts us in 1930s trade-war territory,” Wilson said.
The Dow fell by 800 points Tuesday morning, or 1.86%, and the broader S&P 500 slid 1.87%. The Nasdaq Composite was down by 1.68%, after dipping into correction territory earlier. The VIX, Wall Street’s fear gauge, surged to its highest level this year.
As of Tuesday morning, the S&P 500 had erased all its gains since Trump’s reelection in November. The benchmark index on Tuesday plummeted below its 125-day moving average, signaling investors are skittish, according to CNN’s Fear and Greed Index.
The broad selloff in markets spanned the globe Tuesday in response to Trump’s decision to go forward with tariffs: In Europe, the STOXX Europe 600 index fell 1.9% in afternoon trading and Germany’s DAX index tumbled 3%. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 1.2% and Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index slid 0.28%. In China, the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.22%.
Currencies were hit too, with the US dollar sliding. Mexico’s peso fell against the dollar and the Canadian dollar gained slightly.
Futures on gold rose, signaling more uncertainty about geopolitical stability.
The 25% tariff on goods imported from the US’s closest trading partners comes after Trump also imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods, raising that country’s rate to 20%.
The broad-based levies are intended to stem the flow of fentanyl into the United States, the Trump administration said.
But the impact of tariffs on everyday goods for Americans could stall the economic engine that drives US growth. Inflation-weary consumers are already starting to rein in their spending as uncertainty ripples through households. Layoffs are rising, consumer confidence has plunged, and inflation is still above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%.
“The market finally took the Trump administration at its word, and the realization that the tariff talk wasn’t just a negotiating tactic is starting to sink in,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management, in a note Tuesday.
RELATED ARTICLE
What will cost Americans more from sweeping tariffs on Mexico, China and Canada
China immediately struck back Tuesday, announcing tariffs on chicken, pork, beef and some agricultural imports from the US, according to a statement from the State Council Tariff Commission.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Tuesday in a press conference that Canada “will not back down from a fight.” He said he would implement a 25% tariff on C$30 billion ($20.7 billion) of US goods immediately, followed by an additional C$125 billion ($86.2 billion) in 21 days’ time.
“This is a very dumb thing to do,” he said, in remarks he said were directed at Trump. “There is absolutely no justification or need whatsoever for these tariffs today.”
While Trump has long signaled his intent to impose stringent levies on America’s trading partners, many investors believed the threat of tariffs was a negotiation strategy. But as the deadline neared, fear rose that Trump’s actions would spark a trade war.
That triggered a massive selloff on Wall Street on Monday: The Dow ended the day down by 650 points, the S&P had its worst day since December and the Nasdaq Composite flirted with correction territory.
“While Tuesday’s tariffs are a go, it remains very unclear on just how long these tariffs will remain,” wrote Clark Geranen, chief market strategist at CalBay Investments, in a note Tuesday. “We tend to believe these are more of a negotiation tactic and not the start of a long and drawn out reciprocal trade war. Still, in these situations, investors sell first and ask questions later, as seen during Monday’s selloff.”
George Smith, portfolio strategist for LPL Financial, said in an email that as troubling as a large one-day decline in the S&P 500 can be, it’s important to put it in context. US stocks also closed at record highs just last week.
“While every situation is different, historically, buying the dip after such single day declines has been a successful strategy on average,” Smith said.
Trump is scheduled later Tuesday to deliver to Congress the first address of his second term. The theme of that speech, “Renewal of the American Dream,” comes as the stock market has now erased all gains since he became president and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s real-time GDP forecast projects the economy could contract by 2.8%.
“Extreme fear” was the sentiment driving markets on Tuesday for the sixth day in a row, according to CNN’s Fear and Greed Index.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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