Stocks dropped on Monday as the selling pressures that dragged Wall Street last week persisted, with investors worried about an economic slowdown after President Donald Trump didn’t rule out a recession with U.S. tariffs being implemented.
The Dow Jones Industrials cratered 496.01 points to 42,305.71
The much-broader index stumbled 124.06 points, or 2.1%, to 5,646.13.
The NASDAQ Composite dropped 622.45 points, or 3.4%, to 17,570.70. Both the 500-stock S&P and tech-heavy NASDAQ dropped to their lowest levels since September 2024.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ was weighed down by declines in the “Magnificent Seven” cohort. Tesla shed 6%, Alphabet fell 4%, Meta lost 3% and AI darling Nvidia slipped 2%.
Stocks have been under pressure as investors fret over a possible recession due to tariffs implemented by the Trump administration. Part of the concern is that these levies could drive prices higher, thus making it harder for the Federal Reserve to lower rates.
In an interview that aired Sunday, Trump responded to a question on Fox News about the possibility of a recession by saying the economy was going through “a period of transition.”
Last week, the S&P 500 lost 3.1% for its worst weekly mark since September. The Dow fell 2.4%, while the NASDAQ shed 3.5%. Over the past month, the S&P 500 has lost 6%. and NASDAQ are down 9%, while the Dow is down 4.5%.
The turbulence could continue this week, with a heavy dose of economic data adding to the list of potential market-moving events. On the inflation front, the February consumer price index release is slated for Wednesday, followed by the producer price index on Thursday.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury rocketed, lowering yields to 4.23% from Friday’s 4.30%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slipped 36 cents to $66.68 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold fell $5.50 an ounce to $2,908.60 U.S.
