US Market Restless; Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq Hit New 52-Week Lows; Trump Threatens 50% Tariff On China

US Stock Market: The trade war uncertainties are at a boiling point for the US stock market. On Monday, extending the intense meltdown, Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite crashed to hit a new 52-week low. Wall Street bleeds severely for the third consecutive day. And the latest nail in the coffin would be a new threat from the 47th President Donald Trump who announced reportedly to slam a 50% tariff on China against its retaliation. China and Trump are once again in a riff-off of tariffs, and the market is already feeling the pressure of it!

At the time of writing, Dow Jones traded at 37,355.26, down by 959.60 points or 2.50%, after hitting a new 52-week low of 36,611.78 in the early trade. Similarly, the tech-heavy index Nasdaq Composite nosedived by 216.13 points or 1.39% to trade at 15,369.86, while the S&P 500 plunged by 84.70 points or 1.7% to trade at 4,989.38.

Both Nasdaq and S&P 500 have touched their 1-year lows of 14,784.03 and 4,835.04.

The mega-caps continued to be top draggers of the market. Tesla plunged by more than 5.2% and wiped out about $40.13 billion of its valuation. Apple Inc suffered a nearly 6% drop in share price and erased a whopping $160.45 billion m-cap in a single day. Microsoft was down by 2% and its m-cap fell nearly $44 billion so far. While Tencent and Alibaba stock dropped between 10% to 11%.

However, among the gainers was Nvidia up by 1%, along with Saudi Aramco, Amazon, Meta, and Broadcom which surged between 1% to 2.5%.

This would be the third consecutive session for Dow Jones to drop by more than 1,500 points mark in a single day, which is for the first time in its trading history. On April 7th, Dow dropped more than 1,700 points, after it shed 2,231 points last week on Friday. Other indices are already trading at their worst levels since March 2020, when the first wave of COVID-19 had brought the world to a standstill.

As per Trading Economics, U.S. stocks seesawed on Monday, swinging between sharp gains and losses as markets attempted a brief rebound from a two-day rout that has dragged major indexes to multi-month lows and into bear market territory, before slipping back into the red. Investors remained focused on trade developments, with recession fears fueled by President Trump's sweeping tariff policies continuing to weigh heavily on sentiment. Markets momentarily welcomed reports that President Trump was considering a 90-day tariff pause for all countries except China.

However, it added, the rally quickly lost steam after the White House denied the claim. Meanwhile, Trump also threatened a new 50% tariff on China if Beijing doesn't remove retaliatory duties. Real estate, materials and energy were among the worst performers.

In a latest nerve-wracking moment, Trump has announced that the US will impose up to 50% tariff if China does not withdraw its retaliatory additional 34% tariff on their products. Trump vowed to impose a 50% tariff with effect from April 9, 2025. Not only that all talks with China will be terminated.

Many countries have requested meetings with Trump after he implemented reciprocal tariffs from April 2nd onward.

Trump-China Trade War

Through his Truth Social account, Trump said, "Yesterday, China issued Retaliatory Tariffs of 34%, on top of their already record-setting Tariffs, Non-Monetary Tariffs, Illegal Subsidization of companies, and massive long term Currency Manipulation, despite my warning that any country that Retaliates against the U.S. by issuing additional Tariffs, above and beyond their already existing long term Tariff abuse of our Nation, will be immediately met with new and substantially higher Tariffs, over and above those initially set."

Therefore, he added, "if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long-term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th. Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated! Negotiations with other countries, which have also requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

What Trump says about latest market rout?

He said, "The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO. Don't be Weak! Don't be Stupid! Don't be a PANICAN (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!)."

He urged Americans to not panic and be patient.

"Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!," Trump added.