By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. — It was another troubling day on Wall Street as markets across the globe react to President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement Wednesday.
Today’s stock market drop comes as countries begin to retaliate in response to Trump’s 10% baseline tariff for most trading partners as well as a discounted reciprocal tariff for dozens of other nations. On Friday, China, one of the largest U.S. trading partners, responded by announcing additional 34% tariffs on all U.S. goods.
U.S. stocks plunged again on Friday, following the worst day for the S&P 500 since 2020 and a 1,600-point plunge for the Dow on Thursday. Similar trends were on display Friday, giving Democrats some fuel to criticize the administration.
“He’s playing poker with Americans’ livelihoods, with Americans’ retirement savings and other American’s hard-earned income,” said Senator Gary Peters (D- MI). “And as Wall Street opened today, we’re unfortunately seeing the market continue to plummet. As I speak right now, another $2 trillion lost. That’s quite a record for the president to lose Americans, $4 trillion in two days. That’s never been done before.”
Economists say uncertainty is driving volatility.
“Expect very high volatility and there’s going to be some stress. It’s going to be a little bit tough waters for the next few weeks,” said Michael J. Szanto, a foreign policy expert and economist.
The administration characterized the market uncertainty as an adjustment period Friday.
“The markets will adjust. Businesses around the world, including in trade and global trade, they just need to know what the rules are. Once they know what the rules are, they will adjust to those rules,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “I don’t think it’s fair to say economies are crashing, markets are crashing because markets are based on the stock value of companies who today are embedded in modes of production that are bad for the United States.’
But what does it all mean for short-term and long-term investments?
“If it’s short term, you need this next year, two years from now, three years from now, you should keep it very safe and away from the stock market,” said Jason Nickerson, President & COO at John G. Ullman & Associates, Inc. “But long-term investors see these periods of time as opportunities. They’re buying at low prices theoretically and hopefully selling it high. I mean, that’s the age-old adage of the stock market,” Nickerson added.
As a financial advisor, Nickerson says it’s too early to tell how big an impact these tariffs will have. However, he says dips in the market are not uncommon.
“This is what happens. We reach highs, theoretically, we should have a pullback at some point,” said Nickerson, who recommends creating a surplus within your cash flow by either earning more or spending less to help prepare for higher costs.
“We can’t control what tariffs are in place. We can’t control interest rates. We can’t control a lot. What we can control is our own budget, our own spending. And if we can insulate ourselves from a lot of these changes, then we’ll be in much better shape,” said Nickerson.
The Dow plunged by 2,231.07 points, or by 5.5% today. The broader S&P 500 dropped nearly 6% and the more tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 5.8% today, after falling 6% on Thursday. The Nasdaq is now down 22% from its December record.
