US stocks plummeted on Monday afternoon, with selling accelerating in the last hour of trading after President Trump indicated there was "no room left" for
tariff
negotiations with Canada and Mexico, indicating that new levies against both countries will go into effect tomorrow.
The S&P 500 (
^GSPC
) fell 1.7%, posting its worst day of 2025, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (
^IXIC
) dropped 2.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (
^DJI
) fell nearly 650 points, or almost 1.5%, as the
major US indexes came off a volatile week
and a losing February.
Tech led the sell-off, with shares of Nvidia (
NVDA
) tanking more than 8%. All of the "Magnificent 7" stocks declined.
March trading kicked off with
investors encountering more questions
than answers amid
looming tariffs
as US policy makers face the test of disproving
investors' fears about growth
. First quarter economic growth is expected to slide following a string of
weaker-than-expected economic data
.
Tariffs against
Canada and Mexico are set to come into effect on Tuesday
after Trump said levies against both countries are "all set, they go into effect tomorrow."
The week will bring a crucial jobs report and a batch of retail earnings that could feed or ease concerns about an economic downturn and consumer resilience. The February nonfarm-payrolls report on Friday is
expected to show modest job growth
, with the unemployment rate steady at 4%.
And in retail earnings ahead, results from Target (
TGT
) on Tuesday and Costco (
COST
) are in focus for what they reveal about American shoppers. Data last week showed consumer
spending unexpectedly fell
in January by the most in four years.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies got a boost after Trump said on Sunday that five digital assets — bitcoin (
BTC-USD
), ether (
ETH-USD
), XRP (
XRP-USD
), solana (
SOL-USD
), and cardano (
ADA-USD
) —
would be included in a new US strategic cryptocurrency reserve
. Prices of those tokens on Monday pared some of the sharp gains booked following the post on social media by the president, with bitcoin trading around $86,000.
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