Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
The stock market rebounded slightly to avoid a historically bad day, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost almost 900 points at closing Monday.
The Dow closed t a loss of 890 and was earlier heading toward its worst day since 2022 following President Donald Trump’s trade tariff chaos with Canada, Mexico and other nations. At one point, the Dow was down 1,000 points, which would have put it in the top 20 worst days in market history.
The sell-off continued early Tuesday in Asian markets as investors around the world grappled with Trump’s erratic tariffs and the president’s indication at a weekend interview that the U.S. economy could be in for a recession.
Chinese, Japanese and Australian stock markets all fell on Tuesday with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropping about 2 percent. South Korea’s Kospi fell as muck as 3 percent.
On Monday, the Nasdaq tanked 4.2 percent, on course for its biggest single-day percentage drop since September 2022, Reuters reported. The bellwether S&P 500 closed below its 200-day moving average, a closely watched support level, for the first time since November 2023, the news agency reported.
On the day of Trump’s reelection last November, the stock market enjoyed a boost. But all three major indexes were below their levels on November 5.
Trump did not rule out a recession in remarks over the weekend and said it was a “period of adjustment.”
“What I have to do is build a strong country,” Trump said Sunday on Fox News. “You can’t really watch the stock market.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, by contrast, told NBC News: “There’s going to be no recession in America.”
Stock of Elon Musk’s Tesla lost 15 percent, while shares of Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon.com, Nvidia and Meta Platforms fell more than 3 percent.
The fears of the recession come as Trump continues to suggest a trade war and tariffs when it comes to dealing with China, Canada and Mexico. The countries bordering the U.S. have been given a month’s reprieve from tariffs.
Canada’s most populous province, Ontario, has retaliated against Trump’s tariffs by imposing a 25 percent tax on energy to three U.S. states – New York, Minnesota and Michigan.
“This is the first time we’ve had an administration pretty much say with a straight face…the objectives are going to cause pain,” Shelby McFaddin, investment analyst at Motley Fool Asset Management, told the Wall Street Journal.
Economists warned the tariffs could unleash uncertainty and economic hardship for Americans.
JPMorgan Chase raised their risk of recession from 30 to 40 percent, according to the Journal. “We see a material risk that the U.S. falls into recession this year owing to extreme U.S. policies,” said economist Bruce Kasman.
“There are a lot of storms out there and they’re getting darker and darker,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at credit rating agency Moody’s, told The Independent last week.
“Americans should be worried,” Zandi said, adding that Trump’s tariffs will do “serious damage” if the president doesn’t walk them back soon.
The gloomy picture from Wall Street follows last week’s monthly jobs report, which found the U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs in February, nearly 10,000 less than economists predicted.
Unemployment rose to 4.1 percent, above the 4 percent expected, according to the Labor Department’s February jobs report, published Friday morning.