At least $4 trillion was wiped from the U.S. stock market on Monday, March 10, as concerns over President Donald Trump's economic policies, fears of a potential recession, and escalating trade tensions triggered a widespread market selloff. Wall Street's rout began early, with all three major indexes opening in the red as last week's sharp losses continued.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 890 points, marking its worst day of the year, while the S&P 500 dropped 2.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite saw an even steeper decline, plunging 4%. The market downturn has erased all gains made by the three major indexes since the U.S. presidential election in November.
The S&P 500 is now down 8% from its February 19 all-time high, while the Nasdaq Composite has officially entered correction territory after falling more than 10% from its December peak.
The selloff intensified following Trump's interview with Fox News on Sunday, where he refused to rule out the possibility of a recession. "I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition because what we're doing is very big," Trump said on Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo.
Tech stocks led the decline, with major companies such as Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Nvidia (NVDA), and Tesla (TSLA) suffering significant losses. "President Trump's comments not necessarily taking a recession off the table unnerved investors who were already on edge," said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise.
Despite market fears, the White House defended Trump's economic policies. "Since President Trump was elected, industry leaders have responded to his America First economic agenda with trillions in investment commitments that will create thousands of new jobs," said White House spokesman Kush Desai. He added that Trump had delivered "historic job, wage, and investment growth" in his first term and was set to do so again in his second term.
Tesla, which had seen gains after Trump's election victory, has dropped nearly 45% this year. The stock has faced additional pressure due to protests against Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s ties to the Trump administration and declining sales in Europe. Nvidia shares fell 5%, while artificial intelligence firm Palantir (PLTR) tumbled 10%.
Bitcoin also took a hit, dropping to around $78,000—its lowest level since November—amid a broader selloff of riskier assets.
Investor concerns have been fueled by uncertainty surrounding Trump's trade policies. He has threatened new tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, doubling tariffs on all Chinese imports from 10% to 20%, and setting a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports starting March 12. Last week, Trump also threatened a 250% tariff on Canadian dairy products and a "tremendously high" tariff on Canadian lumber, warning that tariffs could "go up as time goes by."
In response to the turmoil, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury fell to 4.225% as investors rushed to government bonds, signaling concerns over economic stability. This week's focus now shifts to inflation data expected on Wednesday and Thursday, which could provide further insight into the state of the economy.
