Index Options
CME Group
Nasdaq
Cboe
TradingView
Wall Street JournalStock Market News for Mar 12, 2025
Wall Street closed sharply lower on Tuesday, continuing on a broad-based fall. Concerns about a fresh set of tariff announcements and consequent backtracking weighed on investor sentiment. All of the three most widely followed indexes closed the session in the red.
How Did the Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) fell 1.1%, or 478.23 points, to close at 41,433.48. Twenty four components of the 30-stock index ended in negative territory, while six ended in positive.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 32.23 points, or 0.2%, to close at 17,436.10.
The S&P 500 declined 42.49 points, or 0.8%, to close at 5,572.07. All of the 11 broad sectors of the benchmark index closed in the red. The Industrials Select Sector SPDR (XLI), the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR (XLC) and the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) each lost 1.5% in the session.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) decreased 3.4% to 26.92. A total of 19.01 billion shares were traded on Tuesday, higher than the last 20-session average of 16.56 billion. Decliners outnumbered advancers by a 1.6-to-1 ratio on the NYSE.
Trump’s Tariff Announcements Weigh on Investor Mood
On Tuesday, President Trump initially announced double tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada, raising the bar to 50%, reacting to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s announcement of a 25% surcharge on electricity supplied to America. However, President Trump reversed course in the afternoon just hours after announcing the higher tariffs, after Ford backed off from his own surcharge announcement. Doug Ford's tariff imposition would have placed more than 1 million U.S. homes in jeopardy.
While this may be interpreted as a strongman move to arm-wrestle down a reciprocal tariff from Canada, the markets continue to show weariness about the Trump administration’s repeated announcements and backtracking on tariffs. Uncertainty around the U.S. trade policy has been the single most important factor causing mayhem in Wall Street in recent sessions. Tuesday was no different.
Consequently, shares of Verizon Communications Inc. VZ and Apple Inc. AAPL slid 6.6% and 2.9%, respectively. Both currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
U.S. Resumes Military Aid and Intelligence to Ukraine
Markets pared some losses on news from Jeddah that the United States had agreed to resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. Following talks, Kyiv said it was ready to support Washington's proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in the press conference that the U.S. would now take the offer to Russia, and the ball is in Moscow's court.
No economic data was released on Tuesday.
5 Stocks Set to Double
Each was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2024. While not all picks can be winners, previous recommendations have soared +143.0%, +175.9%, +498.3% and +673.0%.
Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.
Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Apple Inc. (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).