Despite a strong jobs report, the stock market continued to tank Friday morning in the fallout of President Donald Trump‘s sweeping tariff plan.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that the economy added 228,000 jobs in March, while the unemployment rate increased slightly to 4.2%. The jobs figure was above expectations, but Trump’s tariff plan unveiled Wednesday, calling for at least 10% tariffs on most countries’ imports in the U.S., has markets concerned.
ECONOMY ADDED 228,000 JOBS IN MARCH: THE KEY FACTS AND FIGURES
China announced retaliatory 34% tariffs on U.S. imports on Friday morning, the same rate Trump announced on Wednesday the U.S. would place on Chinese imports. This hurt stock futures, with the sell-off continuing when Wall Street opened at 9:30 a.m.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down more than 1,000 points from where it closed on Thursday, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite are down roughly 3% less than an hour into the trading day.
Major U.S. companies whose stocks tanked Thursday did not start Friday off strong, with Nike down nearly 4%, Apple down 2%, and Amazon down roughly 2.8%.
Foreign companies on the New York Stock Exchange also fared poorly in early trading. Toyota was down 5%, and Honda was down 5.5%.
Global markets were down across the board, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index down 2.75%, Europe’s Stoxx 600 down more than 4%, and South Korea’s Kospi index down nearly 1%, among other national indexes.
CHINA ANNOUNCES 34% RETALIATORY TARIFFS ON US IMPORTS
The Dow Jones has dropped to near its August 2024 figures and is down almost 2,000 points in the past week.
While the markets continue to be negatively affected by the president’s tariff plans, he does not appear close to backing off the bold actions. In a post on Truth Social Friday morning, Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked” in its response to U.S. tariffs.
