A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell in New York City on April 1, 2025.
Charly Triballeau | Afp | Getty Images
The S&P 500 climbed to positive territory on Tuesday, in another volatile session as the market awaited clarity from President Donald Trump regarding his tariff policy rollout. Wall Street also faced pressure stemming from weaker-than-expected economic data.
The broad market index advanced 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 105 points, or 0.1%. The S&P 500’s move higher after initially falling earlier follows a similar day of trading on Monday.
Investors got another sour reading on the economy Tuesday due to the threat of tariffs, with the Institute for Supply Management manufacturing survey coming in lighter than expected and in contraction territory. February’s job openings were also slightly below estimates, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Tuesday.
Looking ahead, the White House on Wednesday is expected to unveil reciprocal tariffs on goods from virtually all countries. Investors had been hoping for a narrow approach toward administering the levies.
“The lack of certainty and the shroud of secrecy has been driving the market insane,” said Jay Woods, chief global strategist at Freedom Capital Markets. “We have our correction, [though], so perspective is key.”
On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration is considering implementing tariffs of about 20% to most imports into the U.S. To be sure, the report — which cited three sources familiar with the matter — noted that no final decision had been made.
The uncertainty has put stocks on a rollercoaster ride. The S&P 500 on Monday touched a six-month low before recovering. For the first quarter, the index lost 4.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 10%. That marked the worst quarterly performance for both benchmarks since 2022. The Dow dropped 1.3% during the first three months of the year.
“While the higher event risk baked in creates room for a potential relief rally in case of less aggressive tariffs, the risk arguably is still to the downside, with markets likely underpricing the trade risks,” Barclays assistant vice president Anshul Gupta wrote in a Tuesday note.
CoreWeave shares rocket 20% higher
CoreWeave shares rallied more than 20% on Tuesday to trade around $45, rebounding from a 10% sell-off in the previous session.
Shares of the artificial intelligence cloud company, which rents out access to Nvidia’s graphics processing units to other technology companies, dropped more than 10% on Monday and fell below the initial public offering price of $40.
CoreWeave opened on the public markets Friday in the biggest venture-backed tech IPO for a U.S. company since 2021.
— Yun Li, Samantha Subin
The risks around April 2 are ‘not small,’ Wells Fargo Securities says
Christopher Harvey, head of equity strategy at Wells Fargo Securities, said he remains constructive on the long-term outlook for stocks, but warned investors not to underestimate the potential risks around the April 2nd tariff announcement.
“We remain constructive on equities longer term given: (1) potential monetary stimulus (i.e., 75+ bps of 2025 Fed rate cuts) starting by mid-year; (2) anticipated tax bill movement (and possible enactment) this summer; and (3) several uber-caps already look oversold (TSLA, AVGO, NVDA),” Harvey wrote Tuesday.
“However, the risks are not small and recession is possible. We are worried most about the potential unintended consequences of aggressive tariff moves,” Harvey said.
— Sarah Min
History shows strong April after notable March slide
After a tough March, the market could be in for a rebound this month, according to BTIG.
The firm found the S&P 500 has tumbled more than 3% in March in only seven past years going back to World War II. In all of those years, the broad index rose in April, notching an average jump of nearly 6%.
From April through the end of December, all but one of those years brought gains. The sole down year was 2001, when the index lost slightly over 1% in that period.
“We continue to have concerns about the medium-term trend of the market and it’s clearly not going to be an easy month with SPX undercutting its March lows this morning,” Jonathan Krinsky, BTIG’s chief market technician, wrote to clients in a Tuesday note. But, “the set-up for April seems to favor the bulls.”
— Alex Harring
Job openings declined more than expected in February
A person exits a Home Depot store in Midtown Manhattan on February 26, 2025 in New York City.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez | Corbis News | Getty Images
Job openings edged lower in February as the labor market showed continuing signs of normalization from the massive supply-demand pandemic shock.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday that available positions fell to 7.57 million, down 194,000 from January and narrowly below the Dow Jones estimate for 7.6 million. The openings rate as a share of the labor force fell to 4.5%, down 0.2 percentage point, while the ratio of openings to available workers fell to 1.07 to 1.
Other measures for quits, hires and layoffs and separations were little changed, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
Manufacturing index little changed as price outlook jumps
Factory activity in March moved slightly lower while price pressures accelerated, according to a survey Tuesday from the Institute for Supply Management.
The ISM manufacturing index edged down to 49, representing the percentage of respondents that reported activity was increasing. That was down from the prior 50.3 and slightly below the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 49.5. A reading above 50 represents expansion.
Within the survey, the prices index jumped to 69.4, up 7 points for the highest reading since mid-2022. Eight of the 11 sub-indexes in the survey showed declines, including employment, which moved down 2.9 points to 44.7.
—Jeff Cox
Stocks open lower
U.S. stocks opened lower for a second-straight day on Tuesday, as investors brace for President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariff announcement.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite pulled back 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 164 points, or 0.5%.
— Brian Evans
See the stocks moving before the bell
Johnson & Johnson lotion is displayed for sale on shelves at a Walmart Supercenter on October 14, 2024 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
These are some of the stocks moving before the bell on Tuesday:
- PVH Corp — The fashion stock soared 15.6% on the heels of stronger-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter. The Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger parent posted $3.27 per share, excluding items, in earnings per share on $2.37 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by LSEG forecasted just $3.21 earned per share and revenue of $2.33 billion.
- Johnson & Johnson — Shares pulled back 4% after a U.S. bankruptcy judge denied the health-care product maker’s $10 billion settlement proposal. The plan was tied to thousands of lawsuits alleging its baby powder and other talc products caused ovarian cancer.
- Shake Shack — Shares of the burger chain rose 3% following Loop Capital Markets’ upgrade to buy from hold.
Click here for the full list.
— Alex Harring
Stocks enter the second quarter after a bumpy first of 2025
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell, in the Financial District of New York City on March 17, 2025.
Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images
Stocks head into the second-quarter of trading on Tuesday after an exceedingly bumpy first-quarter, which was largely underpinned by tariff worry that translated to market volatility.
For the first quarter, the S&P 500 pulled back 4.6%, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 10%. That’s the worst quarterly performance for both indexes since 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.3% during the first three months of the year.
— Brian Evans
Jefferies steps to the sidelines on major airlines
“The air [has] come out of airlines,” according to Jefferies.
The firm downgraded Delta Air Lines and American Airlines to hold, citing macro uncertainty and weak consumer and corporate sentiment.
Analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu expects the two airlines to slash their 2025 earnings per share forecasts amid the broader industry weakness.
“The main focus will be on Q2 outlooks and whether weakness in US government, low-end consumers & corporate called out in Q1 either rebounds, remains, or further deteriorates into the summer and whether we see changes in capacity plans to offset any lingering broader economic issues closer-in than is typical,” the analyst wrote in a client note on Tuesday.
— Hakyung Kim
White House considering 20% tariff on most U.S. imports, report says
US President Donald Trump speaks as he signs an executive order targeting ticket scalping in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 31, 2025.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration is considering implementing tariffs of about 20% to most imports into the U.S. To be sure, the report — which cited three sources familiar with the matter — noted that no final decision had been made.
The report sent stock futures lower, with those tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average last down about 200 points.
— Fred Imbert
Asia-Pacific markets recover from prior session’s sell-off as investors await clarity on Trump tariffs
Asia-Pacific markets mostly climbed Tuesday, recovering from a sharp sell-off in the previous session as investors awaited clarity on U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff rollout.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.04% to end the day at 7,925.20, after the Reserve Bank of Australia held interest rates at 4.1%, in line with expectations, as the country heads to the polls on May 3.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 pared earlier gains to end the day flat at 35,624.48, while the broader Topix index was closed up 0.11% at 2,661.73.
Over in South Korea, the Kospi index advanced 1.62% to end the day at 2,521.39 while the small-cap Kosdaq surged 2.76% to 691.45.
Mainland China’s CSI 300 pared earlier gains to end the day flat at 3,887.68, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index increased 0.38% to close at 23,206.84.
China’s Caixin PMI for March came in at 51.2, compared to the 51.1 reading penciled by economists in Reuters’ poll, and slightly higher than the 50.8 reading in the previous month.
India’s benchmark Nifty 50 fell 1.54% while the broader BSE Sensex dropped 1.84% as at 1.45 p.m. local time.
— Amala Balakrishner
Wall Street’s VIX index tracking fear and greed rose for 4th day on Monday
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in the Financial District in New York City on March 14, 2025, at the opening bell.
Timothy A. Clary | Afp | Getty Images
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) rose for a fourth day Monday, the fist four-day advance since the end of February. At one point on Monday, during the worst of the morning sell-off, the VIX got as high as 24.80, eclipsing Friday’s intraday high of 22.18, before finally closing at 22.28.
The VIX Index measures traders’ expectations for how much the S&P 500 might move in either direction, up or down, over the next 30 days, using options prices. When the VIX is high, traders are thought to be rattled, expecting large swings in prices, and when the VIX is low, investors are thought to be more confident and willing to take risks.
The VIX in March soared as high as 29.57 during a market sell-off on March 11, after ending February at 19.63. The VIX low for the month of March came last week, on Wednesday March 26, after stocks put together a three-day rebound that drove the index as low as 16.97.
CBOE VIX index over the past six months.
— Scott Schnipper
Stocks making the biggest moves after the bell: PVH and Progress Software
These are the stocks moving the most in extended-hours trading:
- PVH — The luxury brand, which owns brands such as Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, surged 15% after reporting a fourth-quarter earnings and revenue beat. PVH posted earnings of $3.27 per share on revenue of $2.37 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG had expected earnings of $3.21 per share on $2.33 billion in revenue.
- Progress Software — Shares popped 8% after the software stock reported fiscal first-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.31 per share, topping the $1.06 per share analysts had forecasted, per LSEG. Progress Software’s revenue of $238 million also beat the expected $236 million. The company also guided for full-year earnings, ex-items, that exceeded the consensus estimate.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Stock futures slip on Monday night
Stock futures ticked lower on Monday night.
Dow futures slipped around 0.1% shortly after 6 p.m. ET. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures both shed 0.2%.
— Lisa Kailai Han