Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq stall as investors eye Trump's tariff shifts

Americans proceed to sour connected the US economical outlook arsenic uncertainty astir President Trump's policies and higher prices measurement connected user sentiment.

The latest user assurance scale speechmaking from the Conference Board was 92.9 successful March, beneath the 98.3 seen successful February and the lowest level successful much than 4 years. The expectations index, which is based connected consumers' short-term outlook for income, business, and labour marketplace conditions, ticked little to 65.2 from 72.9 and remained beneath the threshold of 80 — which typically signals recession up — for the 2nd consecutive month.

This marked a 12-year debased for the expectations index.

"Consumers' expectations were particularly gloomy, with pessimism astir aboriginal concern conditions deepening and assurance astir aboriginal employment prospects falling to a 12-year low," Stephanie Guichard, a elder Economist of planetary indicators astatine The Conference Board said successful the release. "Meanwhile, consumers' optimism astir aboriginal income—which had held up rather powerfully successful the past fewer months—largely vanished, suggesting worries astir the system and labour marketplace person started to dispersed into consumers' assessments of their idiosyncratic situations."

Tuesday's speechmaking is 1 of respective that has showed weakening expectations for the system among consumers. The increasing marketplace fearfulness is that consumer's feeling worse astir the economical outlook could punctual much cautious spending.

But some Federal Reserve seat Jerome Powell and economists person questions whether readings successful the "soft" survey information similar the user assurance scale volition construe to a deterioration successful the "hard" economical information similar existent user spending.

"The narration betwixt survey information and existent economical enactment hasn't been precise tight," Powell said successful a property league connected March 19. "There person been plentifulness of times wherever radical are saying precise downbeat things astir the system and past going retired and buying a caller car. But we don't cognize that that volition beryllium the lawsuit here. We volition beryllium watching precise cautiously for signs of weakness successful the existent data."

Stocks opened somewhat higher connected Tuesday aft after a surge successful the anterior league arsenic investors assessed the latest hints from President Trump that reciprocal tariffs adjacent period whitethorn not beryllium arsenic wide-reaching arsenic expected.

Then S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained astir 0.3% portion the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) roseate much than 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) moved up 0.2%.

On Monday President Trump hinted levies expected connected April 2 against imports from different countries whitethorn not beryllium arsenic ample arsenic the tariffs charged connected US goods. That helped solidify the session’s rally arsenic tech stocks soared for a 2nd time successful row.

Boeing (BA) banal is up 0.7% premarket conscionable up of the opening doorbell aft The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the level shaper is pushing President Trump's Justice Department to let it to retreat a blameworthy transgression plea statement it reached with the Biden administration.

Yahoo Finance's Alexis Keenan reports:

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Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) banal popped 9% successful premarket trading Tuesday aft the institution announced it was partnering with Crypto.com to motorboat a bid of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and products.

According to a property release, the ETFs volition beryllium disposable aboriginal this twelvemonth pending regulatory support and volition connection integer assets and securities “with a Made successful America focus.”

Trump Media operates the societal media level Truth Social and the streaming work Truth+. In precocious January, Trump Media said it was expanding into fiscal services nether the Truth.Fi brand.

Yahoo Finance's Josh Schafer reports:

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A roaring rally successful China's apical tech heavyweights similar Alibaba (BABA, 9988.HK) has deed the brakes, pushing the stocks toward the correction territory wherever the Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) already lingers.

It's a crisp reversal of fortunes for the Hong Kong-listed stocks, which person outperformed US tech megacaps arsenic optimism for DeepSeek-like cheaper Chinese AI models grew.

Bloomberg reports:

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Shares of KB Home (KBH) sank 7% successful premarket trading aft the homebuilder lowered its outlook for the year, arsenic shrinking user assurance hits demand.

The institution besides reported archetypal 4th gross and nett that missed Wall Street estimates. It posted net per stock of $1.49, versus $1.57 expected, and a 5.2% autumn successful revenue.

The institution trimmed its projected 2025 lodging gross to $6.6 billion-$7 billion, compared with its erstwhile scope of $7 billion-$7.5 billion.

“Consumer assurance has declined sequentially each period for the past respective months, and homebuyers are moving much dilatory successful making their acquisition decisions,” CEO Jeff Mezger said connected an expert telephone aft the report.

Tesla's (TSLA) stock of the European marketplace has shrunk successful year-on-year information for February. The diminution successful income marks the 2nd period successful a enactment that Tesla has seen a drastic driblet successful European usage of the once-popular electrical vehicle.

Reuters reports:

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