Stocks tumble again after briefly erasing massive losses

It was a very volatile day for the US stock market.

Tariff Tuesday saw markets open deep in the red before rebounding through most of the afternoon, led by beaten-down AI and momentum stocks as well as massive short covering.

The benchmark US stock gauge was just a half-hour from doing something it hadn’t done since the bull market began on October 13, 2022: erasing a 2% decline to finish positive. Alas, markets puked into the close, with the S&P 500 ending down 1.2%, the Nasdaq 100 falling 0.4%, and the Russell 2000 giving back 1.1%.

Financials performed terribly, with the S&P 500 sector ETF posting its worst daily drop since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023. Every sector ETF was negative on the day, though the losses in tech were minuscule. Within the Magnificent 7, Nvidia and Alphabet posted strong gains.

Banks were far from the only group brutalized by tariffs.

In particular, no mode of transportation was spared.

Airline stocks like JetBlue, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines all tanked amid concerns that higher prices would hurt volumes sold and raise production costs.

So you were planning on taking to the sea instead? Think again. Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian Cruise Line all sold off hard as well.

Car companies like GM, Ford, and Stellantis, which rely heavily on cross-border operations, did terribly. Tesla definitely traded like a car company today, and one that’s going to have to reckon with either margin pressure or a drag on volumes sold.

Yum! Brands managed to hold up well amid the sea of red after the company said it expects Taco Bell’s same-store sales to rise 8% this year.

Crypto played its role of risk asset on steroids admirably, with many digital assets actually outperforming to finish higher after initially tumbling.