Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 29, 2025.
NYSE
The S&P 500 lost its gains on Friday as the market reacted to news that President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs against major U.S. trading partners would begin on Saturday.
The broad market index shed 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 337 points, or 0.8%, weighed down by a decline in Chevron. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.4%.
Stocks gave up their earlier gains after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on Friday afternoon that the president’s tariffs will be available for public inspection at some point Saturday. Trump will be leveling 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, alongside a 10% duty on China. At its session highs, the blue-chip Dow had risen around 170 points. Stocks with exposure to these markets reacted such as Corona brewer Constellation Brands and Mexican food chain Chipotle, which respectively shed 2% and 1% upon the news.
“This is very similar to what we saw on Monday, with DeepSeek, right? So there was the news; the first reaction was to sell,” said Tom Hainlin, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Asset Management Group. “There’s the initial reaction to the headlines about tariffs. We have no details about them. We have no details about the percent, whether they’re temporary or permanent, what reaction you might get from Canada or Mexico or China. Our perspective is we’ll wait, and find out when the actual policy is implemented.”
Investors also honed in on Apple, which saw shares rise after the company exceeded fiscal first-quarter expectations. While Apple reported disappointing sales tied to the iPhone, services revenue appeared to take the spotlight. The stock was last trading 1% lower. Shares of Chevron and Exxon Mobil respectively dipped 5% and 3% on the back of disappointing fourth-quarter results.
Friday’s action follows a winning — but volatile — trading session for the three major indexes. Technology has been a major focus of investors this week given Monday’s big sell-off sparked by developments out of China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence startup and earnings reports from key players over recent days.
“I thought that that huge sell off was overdone,” said Jay Hatfield, CEO of Infrastructure Capital Advisors. “The DeepSeek freak is fading. We think it’ll fade further with Amazon and Google reporting next week, and of course, Nvidia later. We’re optimistic on that.”
After tumbling 3.07% on Monday, the Nasdaq Composite has since clawed back some of its losses and was last down 1.7% on the week. The S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow are poised to finish the week 1.6% lower and 0.2% higher, respectively. Nvidia, which plunged nearly 17% on Monday, has since trimmed its weekly losses to about 15%.
Friday also marks the last day of what has been a rocky January for traders. Nevertheless, the three major averages are on pace for monthly gains, with the S&P 500 up 2.6% and the Nasdaq on pace for a 1.5% advance. The Dow outperformed in the period, on track for a 4.6% jump.
“We still do have a fair amount of earnings,” Hatfield added. “Usually, it pays to be long during earnings, so we would continue to be bullish into February.”
Friday’s release of the December data for the personal consumption expenditures price index — the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge — showed an increase of 0.3% from November and a 2.6% annual rate. While this yearly advance was in line with economists’ expectations, it marked an acceleration from the prior month’s rate of 2.4% — raising some concerns that inflation remains sticky. Excluding food and energy, core PCE also increased 0.2% monthly and 2.8% on an annual basis.