Wall Street stocks fell early Monday — with losses deepening close to midday — after U.S. President Donald Trump declined to rule out the chance of a recession while companies grappled with growing tariffs.
Investors have been increasingly concerned about a possible downturn as Trump piled a growing list of tariffs on imports, hitting everyone from manufacturers reliant on goods from Canada and Mexico to producers affected by retaliatory levies.
The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index lost 3.6 per cent around 11 a.m. ET, while the broad-based S&P 500 shed around 2.0 per cent.
The Nasdaq was bogged down by retreats in the so-called Magnificent Seven tech stocks, which include Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Nvidia.
Tesla stocks in particular slumped by more than 8.3 per cent. Minutes into trading on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1.1 per cent, while the S&P 500 Index fell 1.6 per cent.
The Nasdaq Composite Index plunged 2.3 per cent.
The fluctuations came after stock markets appeared somewhat assuaged at the end of last week on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments that the U.S. economy was in a good place.
But on Sunday, Trump said to a Fox News interviewer that he disliked predicting things like a recession, when asked directly about such a possibility.
“There is a period of transition, because what we’re doing is very big — we’re bringing wealth back to America,” Trump said.
He added, however, that this takes some time.
“Market participants are losing faith in the notion that President Trump will forestall a market decline with a reversal in his policies if those policies are the basis for a material decline in stock prices,” said Patrick O’Hare of Briefing.com in a note.
Looking ahead, investors are eyeing a consumer inflation report due midweek for further signals on how the economy is faring.
They will also be weighing the possibility of a government shutdown as lawmakers seek to avert a closure by Friday.
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