ASX eyes more losses as Trump sparks more Wall Street turmoil

Stocks pared their losses later in the day, even eliminating them all briefly, after Ontario’s premier said he had agreed to remove the surcharge on electricity that had enraged Trump so much. He said he was confident that the US president would also stand down on his own plans for 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum

After that perk higher, though, stocks would go on to slide again into the end of trading.

Tuesday’s swings followed more warning signals flashing about the economy as Trump’s on -and- off -again rollout of tariffs creates confusion and pessimism for US households and businesses.

Such tariffs can hurt the economy directly by raising prices for US consumers and gumming up global trade. But even if they end up being milder than feared, all the whipsaw moves could create so much uncertainty that US companies and consumers freeze, which would sap energy from the economy.

Delta Air Lines’ stock lost 7.3 per cent after it said it’s already seeing a change in confidence among customers, which is affecting demand for close-in bookings for its flights. That pushed the airline to roughly halve its forecast for revenue growth in the first three months of 2025, down to a range of 3 per cent to 4 per cent from a range of 7 per cent to 9 per cent.

Southwest Airlines also cut its forecast for an important underlying revenue trend, and it pointed specifically to less government travel, among other reasons, including wildfires in California and “softness in bookings and demand trends as the macro environment has weakened.”

Its stock nevertheless rallied 8.3 per cent, though, after the airline said it would soon begin charging some passengers to check bags and announced changes to encourage its most loyal customers.

Oracle dropped 3.1 per cent after the technology giant reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Helping to keep the market in check despite all the worries were several Big Tech stocks, which steadied a bit after getting walloped in recent months. Elon Musk’s Tesla rose 3.8 per cent, for example, after Trump said he would buy a Tesla in a show of support for “Elon’s ‘baby.’”

Tesla’s sales and brand have been under pressure as Musk has led efforts in Washington to cut spending by the federal government. Tesla’s stock is down 42.9 per cent for the young year so far.

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Other Big Tech superstars, which had led the market to record after record in recent years, also held a bit firmer. Nvidia added 1.7 per cent to trim its loss for the year so far to 19 per cent. It’s struggled as the market’s sell-off has particularly hit stocks seen as getting too expensive in Wall Street’s frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology.

Because Nvidia, Tesla and other Big Tech stocks have grown so massive in size, their movements carry much more weight on the S&P 500 and other indexes than any other company.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 42.49 points to 5,572.07. The Dow dropped 478.23 to 41,433.48, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 32.23 to 17,436.10.

In stock markets abroad, which have mostly been beating the United States so far this year, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia.

Stocks rose 0.4 per cent in Shanghai and were nearly unchanged in Hong Kong as China’s annual national congress wrapped up its annual session with some measures to help boost the slowing economy.

In the bond market, Treasury yields clawed back some of their tumbles in recent months. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.28 per cent from 4.22 per cent late Monday. In January, it was nearing 4.80 per cent, before it began sinking on worries about the US economy.

A report released Tuesday morning showed US employers were advertising 7.7 million job openings at the end of January, just as economists expected. It’s the latest signal that the US job market remains relatively solid overall, for now at least, after the economy closed last year running at a healthy pace.

AP