A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 4, 2022.
Source: NYSE
Stocks retreated on Monday, extending February’s rout as a deadline on President Donald Trump’s tariff policies this week ratcheted up economic concerns.
The S&P 500 fell 0.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 305 points, or 0.7%. The Nasdaq Composite slid 1.3%, weighed down by Nvidia‘s slide of more than 7%.
Those moves come after the three major indexes notched losses for February, which concluded last week. The Dow and S&P 500 each slipped more than 1% in February, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite recorded its worst month since April 2024 with a pullback of 4%.
Soft economic data for the manufacturing and construction sectors released Monday offered the latest reasons for worry about the state of the U.S. economy. Those releases kick off a big week for economic data, with the February jobs report slated for Friday.
The rocky start to the new trading month comes as Trump’s plans to impose import duties on key U.S. trading partners this week loom over the stock market. These policy proposals have rattled investors and stirred up market volatility recently as traders worry that they will reignite inflation.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday on Fox News that the exact tariff that will be levied against Mexico and Canada starting Tuesday is still “fluid,” which means it could be lower than the proposed 25%. He added that the additional 10% duty on China imports is “set.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on CBS that Mexico has offered to match the U.S. tariffs on China, potentially as a way to get out of the tariffs set to be imposed against them on Tuesday.
“Whether the stock market can survive this change remains to be seen,” Chris Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS, said in a note. “One way or another, tariffs will be a shock for the economy.”
Elsewhere, cryptocurrencies rallied after Trump announced the creation of a strategic crypto reserve for the U.S. that will include bitcoin and ether. Bitcoin briefly jumped 10% to nearly $94,000 after dipping to a three-month low under $80,000 on Friday.
