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Roughly $2.5 trillion was erased from the S&P 500 Index on Thursday amid worries that President Donald Trump’s sweeping new round of tariffs could plunge the economy into a recession.

The damage was heaviest in companies whose supply chains are most dependent on overseas manufacturing. Apple Inc., which makes the majority of its US-sold devices in China, fell 9.3%. Lululemon Athletica Inc. and Nike Inc., among companies with manufacturing ties to Vietnam, were both down more than 9%. Target Corp. and Dollar Tree Inc., retailers whose stores are filled with products sourced outside of the US, dropped more than 10%.

Few stocks in the US were unscathed as the benchmark notched its biggest decline since June 2020. More than 80% of companies in the S&P 500 dropped, with more than two-thirds sliding at least 2%.

“There’s really not anybody getting spared in absolute terms,” said Garrett Melson, a portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions. “You’re just wrapped up, today at least, in a broad de-risking, and so it’s kind of just across the board taking chips off the table.”

The breadth and severity of the levies dwarfed those imposed by Trump during his first term, threatening to upend global supply chains, exacerbate an economic slowdown and boost inflation. It also left investors struggling to game out what levies would do to corporate profits.

If Apple, for example, were to absorb the jump in costs as a result of tariffs on China, the iPhone maker’s gross margin could take a hit of as much as 9%, said Citigroup analysts led by Atif Malik.

The plan is equivalent to the largest tax increase since 1968, JPMorgan economist Michael Feroli wrote in a note. It could add as much as 1.5% to prices this year, using the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, while weighing on personal incomes and consumer spending.

“This impact alone could take the economy perilously close to slipping into recession,” Feroli wrote. “And this is before accounting for the additional hits to gross exports and to investment spending.”

US assets emerged as the biggest losers after the announcement. The S&P 500 fell 4.8%, and a gauge of the dollar slumped. The impact elsewhere was muted in comparison: A broad gauge of Asian stocks fell less than 1% and the Stoxx Europe 600 slid 2.6%, while the euro rose about 1.6% against the dollar.

Semiconductor and industrial companies also took a beating. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index sank 9.9%, with Micron Technology Inc. down 16% and Broadcom Inc. 11%. Caterpillar Inc. and Boeing Co., which get a big chunk of sales from China, dropped at least 8%.

Apple led declines among the Magnificent Seven stocks with roughly $300 billion in market value wiped out. The group, which also includes Tesla, Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon.com, and Meta Platforms, has been responsible for much of the US stock market’s gains over the last two years.

“We see 5,300 as the near-term target for the S&P 500, but if tariff uncertainty persists or negotiations with trading partners don’t go well, risks of downside through 5,000 become real,” UBS Group AG’s Bhanu Baweja wrote in a note to clients. “The probability of US stocks entering bear market is going higher.”

EmperorIsaac:
...make tariffs great again...

SmartPolician:
The damage was heaviest in companies whose supply chains are most dependent on overseas manufacturing.

Trump has warned you guys to stop taking your businesses outside America so you can boost the local economy. In a couple of years, we'll know if Trump is taking the right steps or destroying American economy.

SmartPolician:
The damage was heaviest in companies whose supply chains are most dependent on overseas manufacturing.

Trump has warned you guys to stop taking your businesses outside America so you can boost the local economy. In a couple of years, we'll know if Trump is taking the right steps or destroying American economy.

SmartPolician:
The damage was heaviest in companies whose supply chains are most dependent on overseas manufacturing.

Trump has warned you guys to stop taking your businesses outside America so you can boost the local economy. In a couple of years, we'll know if Trump is taking the right steps or destroying American economy.

Slytiger:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-tariffs-set-wipe-nearly-120038363.html

SmartPolician:
The damage was heaviest in companies whose supply chains are most dependent on overseas manufacturing.

Trump has warned you guys to stop taking your businesses outside America so you can boost the local economy. In a couple of years, we'll know if Trump is taking the right steps or destroying American economy.

CodeTemplarr:
It is suppose to help US companies grow so why rate the move based on stock market value?

ajailer:
It's cheaper to produce goods in China, which I believe is the reason behind Chinese tariffs being higher on imported goods from America as compared to the otherwise. America might lose this tariff war except they can bring down the cost to produce goods too, and by the way, why is Trump forcing importers to bring manufacturing of their products back to America when the system is a capitalist system and it makes no business sense to operate in an environment where you expend more resources when you have a cheaper alternative.

Trump has bitten more than he can chew right now. He is a realtor abi, when he is constructing his buildings, will he use cheaper building materials from abroad or more expensive ones from his country when he is in the business to take profits?

SmartPolician:
The damage was heaviest in companies whose supply chains are most dependent on overseas manufacturing.

Trump has warned you guys to stop taking your businesses outside America so you can boost the local economy. In a couple of years, we'll know if Trump is taking the right steps or destroying American economy.

Lush100:
This is bound to happen.

This is to force companies that depend (have factories) on China to move back to U.S.

Reference:
I still do not understand how folks who are against the quest of the US government to bring productivity back home expect the average American to afford the goods they produce abroad in perpetuity.

Who has been able to square the circle of not producing yet affording stuff. When we clearly know that America is racking up monumental debts with countries like China and other so called 'cheaper' producers, aka lower living standards countries.

The average household debt or personal debt in America is rising steadily. Shouldn't this concern the rest of the world that this global market place, this global dumping ground is going bankrupt.

Now to the average American. Is it fair that you want to earn some of the highest, uncompetitive wages on earth and yet want to shop in 'bush' markets instead of at high end arcades.

This is the crux of the matter, a battle for the structural integrity of the global economy. Santa Claus is dying.