Wall Street endured another turbulent session Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average staging a dramatic surge early on—climbing more than 1,400 points—only to collapse later in the day as anxiety over international trade once again shook investor confidence.
The Dow initially soared by 1,146 points after the opening bell, fueled by renewed optimism that trade agreements could be reached in time to prevent harsh new tariffs slated to take effect on Wednesday.
Fueling that early enthusiasm were comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who hinted that the administration was willing to negotiate. He remarked that they could “end up with some good deals.”
President Trump reinforced that sentiment, revealing that ongoing conversations with South Korea and other nations were continuing.
Despite the initial surge, Wall Street’s rally quickly unraveled.
By the afternoon, the mood had darkened significantly. The White House revealed plans to impose an additional 50% tariff on Chinese goods—bringing the total to 104%—in retaliation for Beijing’s move to slap a 34% duty on American products.
As the dust settled, the Dow had lost 320 points, closing at 37,645. That marked a staggering drop of nearly 5,000 points since Trump’s “Liberation Day” declaration the previous Wednesday.
The S&P 500 also took a hit, closing down 1.6% at 4,983, while the Nasdaq, which is heavy on tech stocks, fell by almost 2.2% to close at 15,268.
Earlier in the day, the Nasdaq had briefly soared more than 4%—its largest intraday spike since at least 1982. The S&P 500, meanwhile, officially entered bear market territory, ending the day nearly 20% below its recent peak.
“I think the market is trying to find the bottom,” Dr. Sung Won Sohn, a finance and economics professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, told The NY Post.
“We will see a fair amount of fluctuation — up and down, up and down, up and down — depending on the news out of the White House.”
Investor optimism was further crushed when US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced that the administration would not offer exemptions from the global tariffs—not for particular items, nor for individual firms.
That hardline stance effectively reversed the morning’s hopeful tone and sent markets tumbling.
Tech shares, which have been central to recent market gains, were particularly hard hit in the downturn.
Tuesday’s rollercoaster came on the heels of a similarly erratic Monday, when markets swayed between hope and despair as expected tariff reprieves failed to materialize.
“There’s no telling how long it’s going to last,” Dr. Giacomo Santangelo, an economist at Fordham University, told The Post, referring to the ongoing financial turbulence.
“As long as there are tariffs we are going to experience a negative outcome.”
Santangelo added that the broader U.S. economy would feel the sting of tariffs because “more than 70% of goods that we consume are not produced domestically while almost everything that is produced in the US is done with parts that are from countries that are now subject to prohibitive tariffs.”
“Those companies are going to suffer because their costs are going to skyrocket,” he said.
{Matzav.com}