NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are falling Monday after President Donald Trump took little time to ramp up his newest tariffs, but Wall Street is remaining much more calm than it did during last year's tariff- and panic-driven swings.
The S&P 500 fell 0.7% after Trump said on Saturday that he would place temporary 15% tariffs on other countries. That’s up from the 10% rate he had announced Friday in response to a Supreme Court ruling that struck down
his sweeping “reciprocal” taxes on imports from around the world.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 618 points, or 1.2%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% lower.
Trump’s quick shift toward even more aggressive tariffs shows how much uncertainty still hangs over the global economy, even after the Supreme Court said the president lacked the legal authority to institute his sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs.
Beyond a 15% tariff that could last for up to 150 days, unless Congress extends it further, Trump is also looking at other avenues to place more permanent tariffs on other countries and industries. That has countries worldwide uneasy. South Korea’s trade minister, Kim Jung-kwan, said on Monday that uncertainty may worsen if the Trump administration continues imposing new tariffs under alternative laws.
In the meantime, a 15% tariff rate could be lower than some countries had negotiated in deals with the United States.
The United States plans to stand by its trade deals and expects its partners to do the same, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a CBS News interview Sunday.
In other markets, the U.S. dollar’s value edged lower against other currencies, while gold continued to rise as it benefits from its reputation as something safer to own during uncertain times. Bitcoin briefly fell below $65,000 overnight before pulling back above $66,000.
On the whole, though, the moves remained much more modest than the panic that swept through global markets in April after Trump initially announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs. That may be because investors can sense it may be a long time, as well as several more court battles, before more clarity comes about how global trade will look.
“Stocks got a boost Friday from the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling, but it quickly became clear that the decision was simply going to open a new chapter in the trade saga, not end it,” according to Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.
On Wall Street, stocks of airlines fell after heavy snow and high winds canceled thousands of flights across the busy Northeast.
United Airlines lost 4.7%, American Airlines fell 4.3% and Delta Air Lines sank 4.1%.
Novo Nordisk’s stock that trades in the United States tumbled 15.1% after the Danish drugmaker said people lost a smaller percentage of their weight in a trial for its CagriSema drug versus a similar one made by rival Eli Lilly. Eli Lilly rose 3.4%.
Domino’s Pizza rose 3.2% after the delivery chain said it expects its market share to further expand in 2026 and reported strong same-store sales figures for the fourth quarter.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe. Germany’s DAX lost 0.6%, for example, while France’s CAC 40 added 0.1%. European stocks had risen on Friday after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
In Asia, where markets got their first chance to react to the court’s ruling, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.5%, while South Korea’s Kospi rose a more modest 0.6%.
Markets in Japan and mainland China were closed for holidays.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.05% from 4.08% late Friday.
A top official at the Federal Reserve said Monday that the Fed could skip a rate cut at its next meeting in March following solid job gains in January, even though Trump has been lobbying angrily for lower rates.
The comments from Fed. Gov. Christopher Waller provided a notable shift from January, when he was one of the two Fed governors to dissent against the central bank’s decision to hold its key rate steady after three rate cuts at the end of last year.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
