Stocks are volatile once more as trading begins on Friday

Volatility is still the watchword of traders as all major indices lose ground.

Apr 11, 2025 - 15:06
 0
Stocks are volatile once more as trading begins on Friday
  • Volatility continued on Wall Street Friday morning. The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 all opened lower, but then reversed course and gained ground as a wild week starts to come to an end.

Stocks opened lower Friday, continuing the volatility that has ruled Wall Street since Donald Trump announced his tariff plan. But it didn't last long.

After stock futures yo-yoed in the pre-market, the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 indexes all dropped when trading began. Within 20 minutes, however, they were in the green. As of 9:50 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 181 points (0.46%), the S&P 500 jumped 22 points (0.41%) and the Nasdaq index climbed 84 points (0.5%).

That means that within the first 20 minutes of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial saw a swing of more than 350 points.

Stocks started the week higher than they began it, thanks to Wednesday's market rally. Since the so-called Liberation Day announcements, though, the Dow has lost 6% of its value, with Nasdaq and S&P both down 7%.

This week has been one of the most volatile in Wall Street's history as uncertainty over trade policies took its toll on a wide swath of companies. Earlier this week, the CBOE Volatility Index spiked above 50. As of the market open, it was close to 45.

The drop on Wall Street follows China's announcement that it was retaliating against U.S. tariffs, raising its own levies on U.S.-made products to 125% from the previous level of 84%. Chinese officials signaled this was as high as they planned to go, even if the U.S. raises its tariffs against Chinese goods further.

There was some hope for the trade wars to calm some as the trade representative for the European Union plans to fly to Washington on Sunday to "try and sign deals."

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com