Stocks slump on Trump tariff fears, job cuts

The stock market sunk after the opening bell Thursday amid deepening fears about the potential damage President Trump's new tariffs could do to a weakening economy.

All three major indexes kicked off trading Thursday with losses of more than 1 percent, giving up gains from a brief market rebound Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 470 points shortly after the market opened, losing 1.3 percent. The S&P 500 index was down 1.5 percent and the Nasdaq composite was down 1.7 percent.

Wall Street has fretted for days over the impact of Trump's new 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products. While stocks recovered after the White House announced Wednesday it would exempt North American auto companies from the tariffs for a month, the narrow exemption had done little to soothe broader concerns.

The U.S. economy has already shown signs of slower growth and stubborn inflation since the start of 2025 as businesses and consumers brace for higher costs from import taxes.

The stock slump also followed news of the highest number of February job cuts since 2009, according to a report released Thursday morning by employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Employers announced 172,017 job cuts, the most of any February since 2009, when 186,350 jobs were cut. The total job cuts for February this year are more than double the 84,638 cuts announced in February 2024.

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