Stock Market Today: S&P 500 ends below 5,000 in ugly reversal on trade war angst

Published 08/04/2025, 01:22
Updated 08/04/2025, 21:06
© Reuters

Investing.com-- The S&P 500 closed below 5,000 for the first time in nearly a year after a strong start to the session Tuesday, amid rising worries about global trade war as the Trump administration prepares to hike levies on China at midnight. 

At 4:00 p.m. ET (21:00 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 320 points, or 0.8%, the S&P 500 index fell 2% to close at 4,987.76 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.2%. The S&P 500, which was up about 4.1% at the highs of the day, closed below 5,000 for the first time since Apr. 19, 2024.

global trade war worries rise as tariffs on China loom

President Trump later Monday reaffirmed his administration's commitment to implementing reciprocal tariffs, downplaying any leeway for negotiations. The President doubled down on this threat to impose an additional 50% tariff on Chinese goods if China did not withdraw its recent 34% tariff increase on U.S. products by April 8, 2025.

Tariffs on China, which total about 104%, are expected to go into affect at midnight. Investors had been hoping that the president could pause hiking tariffs on China, but the White House confirmed the tariffs would go into affect.   

That said, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated that the administration is open to negotiations aimed at reducing trade barriers, indicating that “maybe almost 70” countries, including Japan, have contacted the White House regarding negotiating tariffs.

Also, the Washington Post reported that Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk made direct appeals to Trump to reverse tariffs over the past weekend.

Tariffs have widely been touted a tax on the American consumer, but U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in testimony in front of the Senate Finance Committee later that costs from tariffs rarely filter through to consumer

The economic slate is largely empty Tuesday, with most attention on the latest consumer price index report due on Thursday for guidance on the country's inflation outlook.

Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Austan Goolsbee on Tuesday, acknowledged that the tariffs rolled out by the Trump administration was harsher than expected.

That said, UBS sees the potential for U.S. monetary policy to shift if equity markets weaken further, arguing that a 5–10% drop in the S&P 500 from current levels could be enough to trigger Federal Reserve action.

Healthcare shines, tech gives up gains

Healthcare stocks were in the ascendency on Tuesday after the Trump administration announced a higher-than-expected rate of 5.06% to private insurers for 2026 Medicare Advantage health plans.

Humana (NYSE:HUM), UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) and CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) all posted strong gains, with the last company also helped by naming United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) executive Brian Newman its new Chief Financial Officer, the first top management change for the health insurer under CEO David Joyner’s leadership.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) gave up gains to trade marginally higher despite launching a new share buyback program of up to $10 billion, set to run through the end of the year.

Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL) stock fell more than 3% giving up strong gains during the day even as German chipmaker Infineon (OTC:IFNNY) said it would buy the company’s automotive ethernet business for about $2.5 billion in cash.

Other big tech names including NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), which have been battered recently,  also off pared gains to close in the red. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) gave up gains, slipping into the red.

(Peter Nurse, Ayushman Ojha contributed to this article.)

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