Self-inflicted Tariff Wars Deepen Wall Street Losses to Fifth Consecutive Week

Barry Adams
21 Mar, 2025
New York City

Wall Street indexes turned lower in Friday's session, and they are set to extend weekly and monthly losses amid Trump's tariff turmoil and rising risks of an economic slowdown. 

The S&P 500 index decreased as much as 0.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped as much as 1% amid federal trade policy uncertainty.

Both benchmark indexes are set to fall between 0.7% and 1.0% this week and extend the recent string of losses to the fifth consecutive week. 

The tariff turmoil and government closures are becoming more visible in corporate earnings, and Accenture and Nike alerted that the current year's revenues are likely to fall short of initial expectations. 

Moreover, investors are worried that the announced tariffs and threats of additional tariffs are fueling inflation and, at the same time, dampening consumer spending, raising the risks of stagflation in the second and third quarters.

 

Commodities, Currencies, Indexes, Yields

The S&P 500 index decreased 0.8% to 5,619.41, the Nasdaq Composite edged down 0.8% to 17,542.55, and the Russell 2000 index was down 1.2% to 2,044.17.

The yield on 2-year Treasury notes edged lower to 3.93%, 10-year Treasury notes decreased to 4.21%, and 30-year Treasury bonds declined to 4.54%.

WTI crude oil decreased $0.24 to $67.83 a barrel, and natural gas prices edged higher by $0.02 to $4.00 a therm. unit.

Gold decreased by $10.82 to $3,035.61 an ounce, and silver edged down by $0.40 to $33.14.

The dollar index, which weighs the US currency against a basket of foreign currencies, increased 0.12 to 103.97 and traded at a two-year high.

 

U.S. Stock Movers

Nike Inc. declined 7.5% to $67.0, and the athletic footwear maker reported strong results in the fiscal third quarter, but the company's estimate of a double-digit decline in sales in the current quarter weighed. 

The company earned 54 cents per diluted share on revenue of $11.27 billion in its latest quarter. 

Micron Technology decreased 6.8% to $96.22, and the maker of advanced semiconductors offered a positive outlook for the fiscal third quarter, estimating adjusted earnings per share of $1.57 and revenue of $8.8 billion.

FedEx Corp. declined 9.9% to $223.27, and the parcel delivery company reported mixed fiscal third quarter results, citing soft demand and uncertainty in the U.S. industrial economy. 

The company said revenue was $22.2 billion and adjusted earnings per share was $4.51. 

The company lowered its adjusted annual profit estimate to between $18.0 and $18.60, from the December estimate between $19 and $20 and from the initial estimate between $20 and $22.