US Stock Market Crash April 4, Donald Trump Reciprocal Tariffs, US Growth Concerns: Wall Street benchmarks continued to bleed for a second back-to-back session on Friday as energy, financial, material and technology stocks fuelled an across-the-board sell-off in the American share market. Investors remained on tenterhooks amid worries about an all-out trade war around the globe and its potential impact on economic growth amid boiling fears about a recession. Though the US markets managed a mildly positive closing following US President Donald Trump’s April 2 tariff announcements, heavy selling was witnessed over the next two days amid cemented concerns about trade war coming in the way of growth in the world’s largest economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much as 1,947.9 points, or 4.8 per cent, to 38,598.1 during the session, on top of a 1,679.4-point (4.0 per cent) crash the previous day. The S&P 500 plunged 294.8 points, or 5.5 per cent, to 5,101.8 while the American tech stocks-heavy Nasdaq Composite nosedived 961 points , or 5.8 per cent, to 15,589.6 at the weakest level in intraday trade.
Among blue-chip stocks, Boeing, 3M, NVIDIA, Apple, Applovin, Grail, GE Healthcare, Intel, Tesla and Airbnb spiralled 7-19 per cent each.
China Fights Trump’s Tariffs With More Duties; Investors Remain Worried
On Friday, China announced an additional duty of 34 per cent on imports from the US. Some analysts say that the Chinese action brought back fears of recession owing to the trade war.
Here’s how the main US indices fared at 2:25 pm Eastern Time (11:55 pm in India):
- DJIA: down 1,896.1 points, or 4.7 per cent, at 38,649.8
- S&P 500: down 291 points, or 5.4 per cent, at 5,105.5
- Nasdaq Composite: down 881.1 points, or 5.3 per cent, at 15,669.5
- Russell 2000: down 79.7 points, or 4.2 per cent, at 1,830.8
For weeks, growing concerns about the US President’s harsh action on the trade front, and retaliatory action by America’s major trade partners, coming in the way of economic growth had kept investors on the edge. Panic set in on Wall Street the next day, causing the main indices to register their worst slides since the depths of COVID.
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