Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP / Getty Images
A volatile Monday slowed late in the day after some wild swings, led by tariff concerns from Democrats and news media, peppered with some wild rumors.
After the occasional spark of market excitement ignited some stocks as the day wore on, Monday on Wall Street closed out little-changed.
Even as they closed on a downward slope for a third day in a row, the S&P 500 fell only 0.2% to end at 5062, while the Nasdaq Composite closed the day 0.1% at 15603 after erasing some earlier-day losses, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost almost one-percent to close at 37,965, falling about 350 points for the day.
The day was pre-hyped as a possible successor to 1987's "Black Monday."
Stocks were sinking when rumors floated that President Donald Trump was preparing to postpone some or all tariffs, sending stocks on an upward trajectory until the rumors proved untrue, reversing the upward momentum until more rumors surfaced.
It was true that Trump had indeed threatened during the day to increase tariffs on China by another 50% after they imposed a 34% retaliatory tariff on the United States. The threatened increase would A 50% increase would slap an effective tariff rate of up to 104% in Chinese imports.
This comes as the White House says 50 countries have come to the table following the implementation of tariffs last week.
And President Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for meetings on Monday to talk over tariffs and other geopolitical issues.
“We have to solve our trade deficit with China,” he said. “We have a trillion-dollar trade deficit with China, hundreds of billions of dollars a year we lose with China. And unless we solve that problem, I’m not going to make a deal.”