Agencies
New York
Wall Street stocks dipped on Thursday, as investors grappled with US President Donald Trump’s latest trade tariff announcement that hit shares of General Motors and Ford.
Trump unveiled on Wednesday his plan to implement a 25 percent tariff on imported cars and light trucks effective on April 3, while the duty on auto parts begins on May 3. Investors are also bracing for a wave of reciprocal tariffs Trump plans to unveil on Wednesday, although the president has hinted there may be room for flexibility.
General Motors tumbled 7 percent while Ford declined 3.25 percent. Car-parts manufacturers Aptiv and BorgWarner each fell about 5 percent.
Tesla rose 1.4 percent, with investors betting the electric vehicle maker might be hurt less by tariffs because of its largely domestic production.
Trump’s mercurial trade policies have created uncertainty on Wall Street, as investors fret over potential disruptions to supply chains, hampered investment, and the specter of inflation threatening global economic growth.
“Investors are really cautious and wary of Trump and his policies. Even more than the policies, just the constant flip-flopping,” said Jed Ellerbroek, a portfolio manager at Argent Capital in St. Louis, Missouri. “That makes people really nervous to make long-term investment decisions, whether we’re talking about companies or about investors.”
The S&P 500 was down 0.17 percent at 5,702.43 points.
The Nasdaq declined 0.22 percent to 17,859.43 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.27 percent at 42,339.75 points.
Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, seven declined, led lower by energy, down 0.92 percent, followed by a 0.44 percent loss in information technology.
The UK Finance Minister, Rachel Reeves, has announced a £14 billion plan, including cuts to public spending and welfare, so that she can meet her own fiscal rule of covering day-to-day spending with tax receipts b. 2030. But she’s left herself just £9.9 billion of headroom
