New York (AP) 2025/03/04 4:20.
On Monday, stock prices on Wall Street fell before the latest deadline for tariff increases set by President Donald Trump.
The S&P 500 dropped 1% in afternoon trading. The Dow Inc average fell by 402 points (0.9%) as of 1:56 PM Eastern Time, while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell by 1.5%.
Wall Street ended a period of instability that began with a series of profit announcements surpassing expectations from major American companies, culminating in the S&P 500 reaching a record high. Subsequently, the market plummeted amid several reports indicating that the American economy is underperforming forecasts, including a few that show households are becoming more pessimistic about inflation due to tariff threats.
The latest report, which indicates that the momentum of the economy is weaker than expected, pertains to American manufacturing and was released on Monday. Overall activity is still expanding, but not as much as economists had anticipated. Perhaps more discouragingly, new orders in the manufacturing sector have decreased. Meanwhile, prices have risen amid ongoing discussions about who will bear President Trump's tariffs....