In the United States, there was a historically record collapse of stock markets: $6.6 trillion was lost in two days
US financial markets experienced an unprecedented decline — investors lost $6.6 trillion in just Thursday and Friday. It was the biggest two-day decline on record, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Since the inauguration of Donald Trump on January 17, the cumulative market losses have exceeded $11 trillion. It is reported MarketWatch.
The main factor behind the collapse was the unexpected announcement of new large-scale tariffs, which significantly exceeded analysts’ forecasts. Government announcements made on Wednesday caused panic among investors and triggered a wave of mass selling in the stock markets.
Despite the president’s efforts to stabilize the situation, in particular, mentioning on the Truth Social social network about a “productive” telephone conversation with the Prime Minister of Vietnam, these signals could not change the general trend. Shares of Nike, which has large manufacturing facilities in Vietnam, rose on the news, but it was an exception to the overall negative backdrop.
According to experts, without a clear position on the part of the administration regarding a possible revision of the tariff policy, the uncertainty in the market will only grow.
The Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices fell significantly — by 10% and 13.7%, respectively. A particularly sharp fall was recorded in the technology sector: the Nasdaq Composite fell by 19.5%, and from its peak on February 19 — already by more than 21%, actually entering the “bear market” zone.
The Russell 2000 index, which covers small-cap companies, suffered the biggest losses. His 20.3% drop was the worst start to a presidential term in history. On Thursday, it lost more than a quarter from its all-time high recorded last November.
Thursday’s drop was the biggest one-day drop since March 2020, the start of the global economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. On Friday, the negative dynamics persisted: the Dow Jones lost 1,600 points in just the last few hours of trading. As a result, the week was the worst for the S&P 500 since the “coronavirus collapse”.
It will be recalled that on April 2, Donald Trump signed a decree on the introduction of a basic customs duty of 10% on all imports to the USA, and also raised tariffs for several dozen countries with the largest trade deficit. These actions became the catalyst for large-scale stock market turbulence.
