Dow plunges more than 1,000 points, Nasdaq craters as recession fears batter stocks

MoneyWatch
Dow plunges more than 1,000 points, Nasdaq craters as recession fears batter stocks
moneywatch
By Kate Gibson

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

Updated on: March 10, 2025 / 4:18 PM EDT / CBS News

U.S. stocks cratered Monday amid growing U.S. economic concerns and after President Trump declined to rule out a recession that investors worry could be triggered by his aggressive trade policies.

After falling more than 1,000 points in afternoon trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 41,911.71, down 890 points, or 2.1%.

The president's trade war with China heated up on Monday as Beijing began implementing retaliatory tariffs on a range of American farm products for which China is the largest market. That includes a 15% levy on U.S. chicken, wheat and corn, as well as a 10% tax on soybeans, pork, beef and fruit.

Ontario, Canada's most populous province, on Monday also said it is adding a 25% surcharge to all electricity exports sent to the U.S. as part of that nation's response to the White House's tariffs on Canadian products.

"Stocks are back in the red as psychology deteriorates further and investors continue to aggressively de-risk," Adam Crisafulli, a market analyst at Vital Knowledge, wrote in a midday update. "The drivers of the weakness are the same that have been weighing on sentiment since the middle of February: concerns about slowing growth, a destructive pro-tariff agenda by Trump (coupled with a high economic/financial pain threshold among White House officials), and elevated valuations."

Nasdaq, already in correction mode, gets slammed
The S&P 500 slid 2.7%, or 187 points, to 5,614.58, its worst day of the year. The S&P shed 3.1% last week, its worst weekly performance since September.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq was hit even harder, falling 727.9 points, or 4%, after entering a correction last week. Tesla shares plummeted more than 15%, and Alphabet, Apple and Nvidia each lost about 5%.

Wall Street's losses come a day after Mr. Trump declined to state whether he expects a recession this year, with the president telling Fox News in an interview broadcast on Sunday that "I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition, because what we're doing is very big." That said, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday that there is no reason to ready for a recession.

Slowing growth
Goldman Sachs on Monday said it was downgrading its economic growth forecast for 2025, previously 2.4%, to 1.7%, citing the stronger headwinds resulting from the Trump administration's trade policies.

"We now see the average U.S. tariff rate rising by 10 [percentage points] this year, twice our previous forecast and about five times the increase seen in the first Trump administration," Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman, in a note to investors.

The Trump administration last week imposed 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico before pausing the levy days later for goods covered under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement.

The White House is sticking with its stance that tax cuts and tariff revenue ahead will bolster the economy, which is hitting investor sentiment, with last week marking the largest market rout since Mr. Trump was re-elected four months ago.

The S&P 500 continued its fall from a record high in February, with strategists cautioning of ongoing stock volatility amid uncertainty about U.S. trade policy, tariffs and inflation. Some economists believe inflation is likely to rise this year, with economists at Morgan Stanley Research and Goldman Sachs recently hiking forecasts.