The U.S. stock market suffered a staggering $4 trillion loss on Monday, March 10, as investor concerns over President Donald Trump’s economic policies, a looming recession, and escalating trade tensions triggered a widespread selloff. The downturn hit Wall Street hard, with all three major indexes opening in negative territory, extending last week’s sharp declines.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 890 points, marking its worst trading day of the year, while the S&P 500 dropped 2.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite suffered an even more severe blow, tumbling 4%. The market turmoil has erased all gains the indexes had accumulated since the U.S. presidential election in November.
The S&P 500 is now down 8% from its February 19 all-time high, and the Nasdaq Composite has officially entered correction territory, having fallen over 10% from its December peak.
The selloff intensified following Trump’s interview on Fox News on Sunday, where he refused to dismiss the possibility of a recession. “I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition because what we’re doing is very big,” Trump remarked on Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo.
Technology stocks led the decline, with major players such as Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Nvidia (NVDA), and Tesla (TSLA) experiencing sharp losses. “Trump’s reluctance to rule out a recession unnerved investors who were already jittery,” said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise.
Despite growing market anxiety, the White House defended Trump’s economic policies. “Since President Trump’s election, industry leaders have committed trillions in investments that will create thousands of jobs,” stated White House spokesman Kush Desai. He further claimed that Trump had delivered “historic job, wage, and investment growth” in his first term and was poised to do so again.
Tesla, which had initially benefited from Trump’s election win, has seen its stock price plummet nearly 45% this year. The company is under additional pressure due to protests against CEO Elon Musk’s ties to the Trump administration and declining sales in Europe. Nvidia shares fell 5%, while artificial intelligence firm Palantir (PLTR) tumbled 10%.
The cryptocurrency market also felt the impact, with Bitcoin dropping to approximately $78,000—its lowest level since November—amid a broader retreat from riskier assets.
Investor concerns have been exacerbated by uncertainty surrounding Trump’s trade policies. He has threatened new tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, doubled tariffs on all Chinese imports from 10% to 20%, and imposed a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports starting March 12. Additionally, Trump has threatened a 250% tariff on Canadian dairy products and a “tremendously high” tariff on Canadian lumber, warning that tariffs could increase further over time.
In response to the market turmoil, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell to 4.225% as investors sought the safety of government bonds, signaling broader economic concerns. Attention now turns to inflation data set for release on Wednesday and Thursday, which could offer further insights into the economic outlook.
