Stocks ended lower Thursday, as global markets grow increasingly cautious about the impact of a dizzying array of policy announcements from President Donald Trump.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 450.94 points, or 1.01%, to end at the session 44,176.65, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.43% to close at 6,117.52, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.47% to finish the day at 19,962.36.
Louis Navellier, chairman and founder of Navellier & Associates, said that Walmart is “seeing a trend that consumers are very cautious.”
“It could be the egg prices, it could be a lot of things, but that is why Walmart is down today and it's throwing cold water on the whole market,” he said of the retail giant's weak guidance.
In addition, Navellier said that Palantir CEO Alex Karp announced he was going to sell a lot of stock, and that took the stock down immediately.
“Peter Thiel, one of the founders of Palantir, is also supposed to be selling a lot of stock, too,” he said. “So, two founders of Palantir are potentially selling over $2 billion in stock which is why the stock got hit. This may cause the Defense Department to cut back on some of the AI funding.”
Also, President Trump said he would likely impose tariffs on automobile, semiconductor and pharmaceutical imports of around 25% as soon as April 2nd.
“Trump concluded by saying ‘When they come into the United States and they have their plant or factory here there is no tariff, so we want to give them a little bit of a chance,’” Navellier said.
“In other words, President Trump is striving to get companies to onshore their manufacturing in America, otherwise they could face tariffs of 25% or higher," he added.
Updated at 11:55 AM EST
No sale
Salesforce (CRM) share were active in late-morning trading following a report from The Information that the software group is in talks with Microsoft (MSFT) , Oracle (ORCL) and Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) to develop an AI-focused cloud venture.
CEO Marc Benioff, however, pushed back against the report, saying it extended a partnership with Google last year to deploy its offerings onto that company's platform.
Salesforce shares were last marked 1.7% lower, against a 0.9% decline for the Nasdaq, and changing hands at $318.91 each.
Updated at 10:16 AM EST
Deeper red
Stocks are extending their early declines, with the S&P 500 now down 55 points, or 0.9%, and the Dow off by around 400 points, as some of the market's frothier names are starting to see notable pullbacks.
Palantir shares, which fell by around 10% yesterday, were down another 12.5% in early trading, while Super Micro Computer SMCI shares fell 8.6%.
Updated at 9:34 AM EST
Muted open
The S&P 500 was marked 15 points, or 0.25% lower in the opening minutes of trading, with the Nasdaq down 15 points, or 0.08%.
The Dow, dragged down by Walmart, was marked 176 points lower while the mid-cap Russell 2000 index slipped 5 points, or 0.2% following the relatively steady weekly jobless claims data.
"The labor market continues to roll along. Jobless claims aren’t reflecting any unusual inflation pressures, and they aren’t showing any effects from federal layoffs," said Chris Larkin, managing director for trading and investing at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley.
"Middle-of-the-road data like this won’t change the interest rate outlook, and it probably won’t provide much fuel for bulls or bears looking for the stock market to break out of its consolidation," he added.
Updated at 8:37 AM EST
Data dump
Around 219,000 Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department report, a modest 6,000 increase from the prior period that topped Wall Street forecasts.
Still, the four-week average slipped to 215,250, a modest 1,000 dip from last week's tally, while the insured unemployment rate held steady at 1.2%.
Stocks were little-changed following the data release, with the S&P 500 called 16 points lower and the Nasdaq priced for a 51 point decline.
The Philadelphia Fed's index of business activity in the mid-Atlantic region, meanwhile, fell sharply in February, with a headline reading of 18.1, down from 44.3 in January and the biggest sequential decline in five years.
Updated at 7:23 AM EST
Walmart slides
Walmart shares slumped, dragging rival retailers into the red, after a muted near-term outlook from the world's biggest retailer clouded a solid set of fiscal-fourth-quarter earnings.
Walmart beat both its top- and bottom-line forecasts with earnings of 66 cents a share and revenue of $180.55 billion. But its full-year profit guidance of between $2.50 and $2.60 missed the LSEG consensus by around 27 cents a share.
Walmart shares were last marked 8.65% lower in premarket trading at $95.01 each, while Target (TGT) fell 2.5% and Costco (COST) declined 1.5%.
Stocks have been largely range-bound for much of the week. But they closed modestly higher last night, with the S&P 500 at another all-time peak, despite a hawkish set of minutes from the Federal Reserve's January policy meeting and a mixed performance from the so-called Magnificent 7 megacap names.
The Fed minutes clarified the central bank's message of patience following its decision to hold its benchmark borrowing rate steady at 4.375% last month. But the central bank also noted concern about the impact of Trump's new policies on inflation in the coming months.
"In particular, participants cited the possible effects of potential changes in trade and immigration policy, the potential for geopolitical developments to disrupt supply chains, or stronger-than-expected household spending," the minutes read.
Minutes from the Fed's January policy meeting suggest concern about the impact of Trump policies on growth, inflation and the labor market. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
That message, as well as hints that the Fed could slow or pause the sale of Treasury bonds from its $6.8 trillion balance sheet, pushed benchmark yields and the dollar lower, with those moves extending into the overnight session.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields were last marked at 4.525%, around 5 basis points south of Wednesday levels, while 2-year notes eased to 4.259%.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, was marked 0.26% lower at 106.893.
"We believe the Fed will maintain a wait-and-see approach over the coming months and expect only two Fed rate cuts in 2025, in June and December," EY's chief economist, Gregory Daco, said. "The risk is tilted toward less easing if the administration’s policy mix fuels higher inflation and inflation expectations.”
On Wall Street, stocks are set for another muted open ahead of fiscal-fourth-quarter earnings from Walmart (WMT) and weekly jobless claims data prior to the start of trading.
In overseas markets, reports that Trump was considering negotiating a trade deal with China might have added support for stocks in Europe, with the regional Stoxx 600 benchmark rising 0.31% in midday Frankfurt trading.
Those remarks had little impact on Asia stocks, however, with the regional MSCI ex-Japan benchmark falling 0.66% into the close of trading on renewed concerns about the impact of tariffs and the prospect of an escalating global trade war.
In Japan, the yen rose to a two-month high of 150.065 against the weakened U.S. dollar, a move that weighed on export stocks and pushed the Nikkei 225 1.24% lower by the close of trading.
