Stocks tumble, S&P 500 erases 2025 gains
The S&P 500 and Russell 2000 tumbled 1.6% while the Nasdaq 100 dove 2.8% on Thursday. The benchmark US stock index is now negative in 2025.
Stocks faced intense selling pressure after President Trump committed to putting 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% on China beginning March 4. However, a basket of tariff-exposed stocks managed to outperform the Magnificent 7 by about 1%, suggesting the losses were more deeply centered around the inability of Nvidia’s results to rejuvenate the AI trade or momentum stocks.
Tech was the worst-performing S&P 500 sector ETF, down 3.6% in its worst day since the DeepSeek-induced sell-off. Financials led the way higher, with energy and real estate also gaining.
The formerly $3 trillion chip designer reported revenues and earnings that exceeded expectations, but traders dumped the stock en masse anyway. Tesla’s abysmal run continued, with the stock now down at least 1.5% in six straight sessions for the first time since the depths of the Covid panic in March 2020. Amazon’s new quantum chip was overshadowed by all the profit-taking in the megacaps, as were reports of Meta teaming up with Apollo to finance data centers.
Bath & Body Works dropped double digits after issuing a poor outlook; Teladoc was in the same boat after whiffing on earnings. Weak guidance also drove a sell-off in Norwegian Cruise Line.
Some bright spots on the tape:
Warby Parker gained after posting better-than-expected quarterly revenues as well as earnings, and also announced a new partnership with Target.
Big subscriber growth for Warner Bros. Discovery propelled shares higher.
Canadian cannabis company Cronos Group also soared after its fourth-quarter earnings flipped from losses to gains.
