Worst day for Wall Street since Covid as Trump's tariffs trigger market plunge

Friday marked the second day in a row that the US financial markets saw a selloff following President Donald Trump's announcement of broad tariffs on the majority of the world. As the COVID-19 epidemic exacerbated Wall Street's biggest crisis since the crash, the S&P 500 fell 6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2,231 points.

Compared to its February record, the S&P 500 is down about sixteen percent. In addition to the two indices mentioned above, the Nasdaq composite fell 5.8% as China matched Trump's significant tariff increase in an intensifying trade war. Even after a better-than-expected US labor market report, the selloff persisted.

Following the release of Friday morning's US jobs data, which revealed that companies increased hiring by more last month than analysts had predicted, markets momentarily regained some of their losses. The true concern affecting financial markets, however, is about the future. Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of global fixed income at BlackRock, was quoted by AP as saying, "The world has changed, and the economic conditions have changed."