US markets end lower as White House says Trump to implement tariffs

01 Feb 2025 Evaluate

The US markets ended lower on Friday after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed President Donald Trump's threatened tariffs will be levied against major U.S. trading partners beginning Saturday. Leavitt said the Trump administration will be implementing 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada as well as a 10 percent tariff on China. The White House press secretary said the tariffs were being imposed in response to the illegal fentanyl the countries have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans. The news the tariffs will be implemented led to concerns about higher inflation keeping the Federal Reserve on hold for longer. However, earlier in the day, markets benefited from a positive reaction to earnings news from Apple (AAPL), which reported fiscal first quarter results that exceeded street estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

Shares of Apple pulled back well off their best levels as the day progressed, however, with the tech giant falling by 0.7 percent after surging by as much as 4.0 percent. Oil stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session, dragging the NYSE Arca Oil Index down by 2.9 percent. The plunge by Chevron weighed on the sector along with a decrease by the price of crude oil. An increase by treasury yields also weighed on housing stocks, as reflected by the 2.6 percent slump by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. Natural gas, steel and transportation stocks also saw considerable weakness, while significant strength remained visible among networking stocks.

Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 337.47 points or 0.75 percent to 44,544.66, Nasdaq dropped 54.31 points or 0.28 percent to 19,627.44 and S&P 500 was down by 30.64 points or 0.5 percent to 6,040.53. 

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