Stocks are taking a battering on Friday amid growing concerns on Wall Street about the impact of President Trump’s tariff regime as well as hotter-than-expected price data, sparking worries that the Federal Reserve is far from declaring victory on inflation.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 758 points, or 1.8%, to 41,541.09 in Friday afternoon trading, while the broad-based S&P 500 shed 2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index skidded 2.8%.
Friday’s stock market rout comes after Wall Street has already suffered a pummeling this year, with the S&P 500 down 9% from its most recent February high.
Mr. Trump on Wednesday said he is imposing a 25% tariff on all vehicles and auto parts imported into the U.S., a move that is expected to add thousands of dollars to the cost of many vehicles. He also plans to announce more tariffs on April 2. Because tariffs are import taxes that companies largely pass onto consumers, many economists are forecasting an uptick in inflation later this year.
At the same time, new economic data released on Friday shows that core inflation heated up last month, posing a challenge to the Federal Reserve’s goal of driving inflation down to a 2% annual rate.
“The recent U.S. stock market correction appears to have been partially triggered by investors realising that Trump may follow through with his tariff threats and that this will hurt the U.S. economy,” said Oxford Economics lead economist Daniel Harenberg and senior economist…
