Stocks Sink as Tariff Back-and-Forth Roils Trading: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Wall Street traders continued to navigate intense, quick and sharp market swings amid a slew of tariff headlines, with stocks getting pummeled after almost wiping out their losses.

Equities fell across the board, following a brief respite that was triggered by President Donald Trump’s confirmation he’ll delay Mexico tariffs on goods and services under the North American trade agreement known as USMCA. It’s not clear yet that Trump will extend the full pause to Canada. The dollar dropped against most major currencies including the peso and the loonie.

“Volatility seems like the only certainty as policies are implemented, challenged, modified, then often re-implemented,” said Chris Low at FHN Financial.

A slide in technology shares dragged down the market, with Nvidia Corp. leading a rout in megacaps. Marvell Technology Inc. plunged as its outlook disappointed investors looking for a bigger payoff from the artificial-intelligence boom. Traders will get another pulse-check on the AI front with Broadcom Inc.’s results after the closing bell.

Just 24 hours ahead of the all-important US payrolls report, data showed jobless claims fell last week, offering some relief after other figures pointed to a worsening labor-market. The employment print is expected to show a pick in job growth. Data was collected prior to many of the federal cuts.

The S&P 500 sank 1.8%. The gauge briefly breached its closely watched 200-day moving average. The Nasdaq 100 slid 2.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1%.

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The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose one basis point to 4.29%. A dollar gauge dropped 0.1%.

“Right now, trade policy is dominating market action,” said Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley. “Until the tariff smoke clears, it could continue to be a bumpy ride for traders and investors.”

To Steve Chiavarone of Federated Hermes, the market “isn’t really forgiving” at this stage.

“At the end of the day, we think we are just in a period of max uncertainty and a bit of an economic soft patch,” he noted. “That said, we think this gives way to a much better second half.”

The recent rout in the S&P 500 driven by anxiety over US tariffs’ impact on the economy is finally giving one group its chance to shine.

Low-volatility stocks are outperforming the overall market and living up to expectations of doing well when things sour. After two underwhelming years, it has become the best-performing investment theme in 2025, among 13 tracked by Bloomberg Intelligence. 

While the S&P 500 sinks from a record, two of the largest low-volatility exchange-traded funds — the Invesco S&P 500 Low-Volatility ETF (SPLV) and the MSCI USA Min-Vol Factor ETF (USMV) — are clocking their best relative performances in a few years. 

Key events this week:

• Eurozone GDP, Friday
• US jobs report, Friday
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell gives keynote speech at an event in New York hosted by University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Friday
• Fed’s John Williams, Michelle Bowman and Adriana Kugler speak, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 fell 1.8% as of 1:30 p.m. New York time
• The Nasdaq 100 fell 2.6%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1%
• The MSCI World Index fell 1.2%
• Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index fell 2.7%
• The Russell 2000 Index fell 1.6%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
• The euro was little changed at $1.0787
• The British pound was little changed at $1.2889
• The Japanese yen rose 0.7% to 147.88 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin fell 2.1% to $88,461.4
• Ether fell 1.7% to $2,198.58

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 4.29%
• Germany’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 2.83%
• Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.66%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed
• Spot gold was little changed

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Isabelle Lee, Margaryta Kirakosian, Julien Ponthus, Sujata Rao and Divya Patil.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.