Wall Street Wipes Out $2 Trillion, Apple Eyes Worst Day Since COVID-19 Pandemic, Oil Plummets: What's Driving Markets Thursday?
President Donald Trump's sweeping new trade tariffs sent shockwaves through global markets on Thursday, triggering a massive sell-off that echoed the COVID-19 pandemic-era routs, as investor risk appetite vanished in a flash.
Wall Street saw a staggering $2 trillion in market cap erased, with the U.S.’s biggest 10 companies shedding $1 trillion alone.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) plunged 8.7%, staring down its worst day since March 2020 and wiping out nearly $300 billion in value. NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) tumbled 6.4%, losing $171.9 billion, while Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) dropped 8%, on pace for a $166 billion hit.
| Company | % Daily Change | Market Cap Loss ($B) |
|---|---|---|
| Apple | -8.74% | -293.95 |
| NVIDIA | -6.38% | -171.89 |
| Amazon | -8.03% | -166.80 |
| Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) | -6.64% | -98.24 |
| Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) | -3.26% | -62.74 |
| Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) | -7.63% | -61.74 |
| Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) | -2.04% | -57.96 |
| Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) | -5.80% | -52.76 |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) | -6.69% | -45.99 |
| Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) | -9.93% | -31.60 |
| Total | -1043.67 |
The S&P 500 fell nearly 4%, poised for its worst session since September 2022, and sank to a seven-month low. Small caps took the brunt of the sell-off, with the Russell 2000 plunging over 5% and officially entering a bear market, now down more than 20% from its 2024 peak.
Fears of retaliatory action from key U.S. trading partners dragged every major sector into the red, except for defensive plays like consumer staples and utilities.
Consumer discretionary stocks were slammed. Apparel names posted double-digit losses: Ralph Lauren Corp (NYSE:RL), Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE), Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) and Garmin Ltd. (NYSE:GRMN) each dropped between 10% and 16%.
Cruise lines were also hit hard: Norwegian Cruise Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) sank 13%, Carnival Corp. (NYSE:CCL) fell 10%, and Royal Caribbean Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) slid 9%.
Bond markets saw a mild flight to safety. Treasury yields edged lower, yet the U.S. dollar weakened 1.6%, with the DXY index heading for its worst day since November 2022.
Commodities weren't spared. Oil prices nosedived on fears of a global slowdown, worsened by OPEC+'s surprise move to raise output. West Texas Intermediate crude plunged 7.5%, slipping below $70 per barrel.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) showed relative resilience in the carnage, dipping just 1% and holding above $81,600.
Thursday’s Performance in Major U.S. Indices, ETFs
| Major Indices | Price | 1-day %chg |
| Dow Jones | 40,908.76 | -3.1 % |
| S&P 500 | 5,449.64 | -3.9% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 18,751.99 | -4.2% |
| Russell 2000 | 1,929.91 | -5.6% |
According to Benzinga Pro data:
- The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) fell 3.6% to $544.20.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) tumbled 3% to $409.26.
- The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) plummeted 4.2% to $456.21.
- The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) nosedived 5.4% to 191.63.
- The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP) outperformed, up 1.2%; the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) tanked, down 5.6%.
Other Major Stock, ETFs Moves To Know
- Lamb Weston Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LW) up 7.8%
- Five Below Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVE) down 26%,
- Molina Healthcare Inc. (NYSE:MOH), up 7.8%
- Kohls Corp. (NYSE:KSS) down 25%
- VanEck Vietnam ETF (NYSE:VNM) down 10.2%
- iShares MSCI Mexico ETF (NYSE:EWW) up 4.7%,
- iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF (NYSE:EWT) down 4%.
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