By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are falling Wednesday in the final hours before President Donald Trump unveils the tariffs he promised as part of his “ Liberation Day ” that could drastically remake the global economy and trade.
The S&P 500 was 0.7% lower in early trading, but it’s had a pattern this week of opening with sharp losses only to finish the day higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 240 points, or 0.6%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.9% lower.
Tesla helped pulled the market lower after it said it delivered fewer electric vehicles in the first three months of the year than it did in last year’s first quarter. Its stock fell 4.7% to extend its loss for the year so far to nearly 37%. Tesla, one of Wall Street’s most influential stocks, has faced growing backlash due to anger about CEO Elon Musk’s leading the U.S. government’s efforts to cut spending.
Financial markets around the world have been particularly shaky of late because of all the uncertainty around just what Trump will announce in the event scheduled to begin after the U.S. stock market closes for the day. He has said he wants tariffs to make the global system more fair and to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States from other countries.
But tariffs also threaten to grind down growth for the U.S. and other economies around the world, while also worsening inflation when it seems to be remaining stubbornly higher than the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Much is still unknown about what Trump will say later in the day, including how big the tariffs will be, which countries will be hit and what kinds of products will be targeted.
The announcement may also not even clear up all the uncertainty, given that it may just provide a starting point for negotiations with other countries rather than a “clearing event” that could lift the fog weighing on Wall Street.
One of the hopes that’s helped push upward on the U.S. stock market recently is the possibility that the worst of the uncertainty may at least have already passed.
“We do not know how long the previously enacted tariffs and any future tariffs will remain in force, but we believe peak tariff uncertainty may soon be behind us,” according to Kurt Reiman, head of fixed income Americas, and other strategists at UBS Global Wealth Management. “Much of the work the administration set out to achieve will have been put in place, and there are numerous potential offramps available.”
The tariffs Trump plans to announce later int he day follow other announcements of 25% tariffs on auto imports; levies against China, Canada and Mexico; and expanded tariffs on steel and aluminum. Trump has also put tariffs against countries that import oil from Venezuela and plans separate import taxes on pharmaceutical drugs, lumber, copper and computer chips.
But another fear hitting the market is that the herky-jerky rollout of his trade strategy may by itself create enough anxiety to spur U.S. households and businesses to freeze their spending, which would damage the economy.
Surveys have shown deepening pessimism, but economists are waiting to see if that translates into damage for the actual economy. A report on Wednesday morning suggested the U.S. job market may still be running stronger than expected.
The report from ADP Research said employers, excluding the government, accelerated their hiring last month by more than economists estimated. It could offer an encouraging signal for the more comprehensive hiring report that’s coming on Friday from the U.S. government. Economists expect that to to show overall hiring slowed a touch in March from February.
The job market has been one of the linchpins keeping the U.S. economy out of a recession.
Treasury yields nevertheless fell after the ADP payrolls report, as they’ve been largely doing since January on worries about how tariffs could slow the economy.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.13% from 4.17% late Tuesday and from roughly 4.80% early this year. That’s a significant move for the bond market.
On Wall Street, Newsmax fell 33.5% in its third day of trading to give back some of its meteoric gains from its debut. It surged 735% Monday and then another 179% on Tuesday.
In stock market abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe after finishing mixed in Asia.
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
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