Stock Market Today: Stocks resume slide amid trade war concerns

A likely government shutdown is adding to a growing list of concerns for the world's biggest economy.

Mar 13, 2025 - 15:11
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Stock Market Today: Stocks resume slide amid trade war concerns

U.S. stocks extended gains in early Thursday trading, while Treasury yields and the dollar bumped higher, as investors added the threat of a U.S. government shutdown to a growing list of concerns tied to the fate of the world's biggest economy. 

Updated at 10:05 AM EDT

Nearing correction

Stocks are extending declines quickly, erasing all of yesterday's gains and pulling the S&P 500 back closer to correction territory in the opening half hour of trading.

Tepid producer price inflation and solid weekly claims data aside, investors remain concerned that President Trump's erratic tariff strategy, as well as the dwindling prospects of a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine, will weigh on both U.S. and global growth prospects. 

Trump's latest salvo, a proposed 200% tariff on wines and spirits imported from Europe, followed retaliatory levies put in place by the EU earlier this week. 

The S&P 500 was last marked 43 points lower, or 0.76%, with the Nasdaq last trading 239 points, or 1.35%.

Updated at 9:35 AM EDT

Soft open

The S&P 500 was marked 10 points, or 0.18% lower in the opening minutes of trading, with the Nasdaq falling 35 points, or 0.2%. The Dow fell 100 points while the Russell 2000 slipped 2 points following the benign PPI data release. 

"More good news for the Fed," said Chris Larkin, managing director for trading and investing at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley. 

"A downside surprise in the latest PPI data builds on yesterday’s milder-than-expected CPI, but the question for markets is whether good news on the inflation front can make itself heard above the noise of the ever-changing tariff story," he added.