Stock Market

Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Following President Donald Trump’s announcement of global tariffs during his April 2 “Liberation Day” speech, stock markets around the world plunged sharply. The S&P 500 suffered its most significant one-day drop since the COVID-19 pandemic, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,500 points on back-to-back days, marking the steepest decline in its 127-year history. Then on Wednesday, Trump partially backtracked, pausing certain tariffs for 90 days (with the...

Stock market uncertainty from President Donald Trump’s tariffs has even casual investors anxiously watching the VIX, commonly called Wall Street’s panic index or fear gauge.The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index – known as VIX – measures market expectations of stock price changes over the next 30 days, according to Cboe Global Markets, which manages the index.Investors use it to anticipate how stocks will react in stressful economic times, including those caused by tariffs. If VIX activity goes up, the stock market will probably go down.On April 7, the index...

Every so often, we get a crisis in the stock market. U.S. stock indexes dropped significantly in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and again in 2023 when the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates. Now we have tariffs.Time will tell how this shakes out, but if we look back, there are some lessons in history worth reviewing.Stock market lessonsThe U.S. stock market has been incredibly resilient. Whether it’s a weather disaster, terrorist attack, war, pandemic or some other crisis, we have survived. Subscribe to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance Be a...

Stocks aren't the only thing that have collapsed in short order over since Trump's tariffs have taken effect.The University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment preliminary April data released on Friday revealed astounding declines in how consumers feel about the economy.Many of the gauges in the survey have seen sentiment deteriorate to levels seen in prior economic fiascos.Consumers' unemployment expectations for the next 12 months have spiked. Actual year-over-year change in unemployment usually follows suit. Pantheon Macroeconomics Consumer expectations about the economy in the short- and long-terms, as well as about their...

The emerging theme from this week's tariff-sparked whiplash on Wall Street is whether the volatility in US bonds and the dollar signals waning appetite for US assets and their roles as safe-haven assets. The US Dollar Index (DX-Y.NYB), a key measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of major currencies, fell below the 100 level to its weakest point since April 2022. Meanwhile, the 10-year yield (^TNX) surged to its highest level since February to trade at around 4.53%, a massive 66 basis point swing from Monday's low of...

The bedrock of the financial system trembled on Friday, with government bond yields rising sharply as the chaotic rollout of tariffs shook investors’ faith in the pivotal role played by the United States in the financial system.U.S. government bonds, known as Treasuries because they are issued by the U.S. Treasury, are backed by the full faith of the American government, and the market for Treasuries has long been deemed one of the safest and most stable in the world.But the Treasury market’s erratic behavior all week has raised fears that...

US stocks edged lower on Friday after China hit the US with a retaliatory tariff hike but signaled it won't hike duties any further. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 0.2%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) dropped below the flatline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) dropped 0.2%. China said Friday it will raise duties on imports of US goods to 125%, compared with the 84% previously planned, effective Saturday. The move is in direct response to President Trump's ballooning "reciprocal" tariffs on China, the commerce ministry said, but it also...

Donald Trump bragged that his friend and investor Charles Schwab made two billion dollars from the current stock market chaos.In a video posted to X on Wednesday, 9 April, the president introduced NASCAR drivers to the founder and chairman of Charles Schwab Corporation, a multinational financial services company.“It’s not just a company, it’s actually an individual,” Trump told the racing drivers.The president added that Schwab “made two and a half billion today” from the stock market.The market has experienced dramatic fluctuations since Trump announced historic reciprocal tariffs on foreign nations...

The stock market sold off rapidly over the past few weeks, leading many to label this a stock market crash brought on by President Donald Trump's tariff announcements. Stocks moved down sharply this week as reciprocal tariffs went into effect; they recovered quickly as Trump announced tariff relief on every country except China, but continued to mark additional losses on Thursday. We are a long way from seeing how this all shakes out, but the prevailing notion in the markets is that tariffs will still have a negative effect. However,...

US stocks rose before the bell on Friday, eyeing a comeback from a bruising sell-off as Wall Street gets ready to wrap up another week of tariff-fueled turmoil. Futures tied to the S&P 500 (ES=F) were up 0.5%, and those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq (NQ=F) popped 0.8%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) put on 0.3%, with all three gauges paring earlier premarket gains. President Trump's fast-moving tariff policy has whiplashed stocks this week, which saw the major US indexes notch historic gains during Wednesday's session but then tank on...