Yahoo Finance

Key Takeaways

• The S&P 500 dropped 1.2% on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, as the U.S. imposed tariffs on major trading partners.

• Best Buy shares tumbled after the electronics retailer warned that tariffs and inflation would have a negative impact on its business.

• Shares of solar technology firm Enphase Energy, which could benefit from tariffs on Chinese solar products, recovered a portion of their recent losses.
  

Major U.S. equities indexes moved lower as tariffs went into effect on imports from major trading partners Mexico and Canada, in addition to an increase in the existing levy on goods from China.

The S&P 500 slipped 1.2% on Tuesday. The Dow industrials and the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the session down 1.6% and 0.4%, respectively.

Best Buy (BBY) shares posted the steepest decline in the S&P 500, plunging more than 13% after the electronics retailer released its fiscal fourth-quarter results. Although quarterly sales and profits came in ahead of forecasts, Best Buy's CEO predicted increasing prices for U.S. consumers as tariffs go into effect on imports from China and Mexico, the top two sources in the company's supply chain.

KKR & Co. (KKR) said it plans to raise $1.5 billion through an offering of mandatory convertible preferred stock. The private equity firm intends to use the proceeds of the transaction to bolster its core portfolio amid expectations for increasing deal volumes under the pro-business policies of the current presidential administration. KKR shares dropped 9.2%.

Stocks of companies in the packaging industry lost ground as concerns escalated about the impact of tariffs. Shares of containerboard manufacturer International Paper (IP) fell 7.3%, while shares of fellow paper packaging provider Smurfit WestRock (SW) lost 6.8% after its CEO said the new trade policies would limit the competitivity of a big mill in Canada that exports to the U.S.

Enphase Energy (ENPH) shares jumped 9.4%, notching Tuesday's top performance in the S&P 500. The push higher marked a reversal for the solar technology company's stock following a stretch of steep declines dating back to the beginning of last week. The U.S.-based firm could be positioned to benefit from tariffs levied on solar products imported from China, and a report published Tuesday by Zacks Equities Research highlighted positive revisions to consensus earnings and revenue estimates for the current quarter.

Shares of server maker Super Micro Computer (SMCI) also staged a recovery, rising 8.5%. The gains for the server maker's volatile stock followed three days of heavy losses as concerns intensified about the possible impact of trade policy on U.S. artificial intelligence players and investors expressed wariness about the AI trade broadly.