The Dow Jones dropped 615 points or about 1.3%. The S&P 500 fell 1.6%. The Nasdaq, which includes many big tech stocks, lost 2.1%. It was a sharp turn for the market, which had been holding steady over the summer. The new tariffs range from 10 percent to as high as 41 percent. They will apply to countries across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. A White House official called it the start of a “new system of trade.” These tariffs will go into effect on August 7, not immediately, giving countries a few days to react or respond.
The move comes after months of back and forth. Trump had already delayed similar tariffs once in April and again in early July. Back then, the threat of higher tariffs caused stocks to fall and bond yields to spike. This time, markets had hoped for another delay but that didn’t happen.
Jobs Report Adds to Market Worries
The timing made things worse. Just as the market was trying to process the trade news, the Labor Department released a disappointing jobs report. It showed that the U.S. added only 73,000 jobs in July, much lower than what experts expected. For comparison, the economy had been adding about 130,000 jobs a month earlier this year.
Even more concerning, the government also made big revisions to the last two months. It said May added just 19,000 jobs, far fewer than the 139,000 it had first reported. June’s total was cut down to 14,000 from 147,000. That is a loss of over 250,000 jobs and if we compare it to what we thought just a few weeks ago, there are no words.
Bret Kenwell, a market analyst at eToro, said the weak job numbers were bad enough. But the revisions from May and June were the real shock. “It’s the stark revisions to the prior two months that really stand out,” he told ABC News. The report suggests that the earlier round of Trump’s tariffs may already be affecting hiring. Some companies might be slowing down their growth plans as costs rise from trade changes.
Markets Break from Months of Steady Gains
The stock market had actually been holding up pretty well for months, even with all the trade drama going on. The Dow was still up around 2% this year, the S&P 500 had climbed 6%, and the Nasdaq was doing even better with an 8% gain. But all that took a hit on Friday when the new tariffs and weak jobs data came out.
Now, investors are starting to worry. With job growth slowing and trade costs going up, there’s real fear the economy might lose steam. You can see it in the way traders are reacting a lot of them now think the Fed might have to step in and cut interest rates later this year to keep things from getting worse.
Another thing bothering investors right now is the inflation report from Thursday. It showed that prices are going up faster than people thought. The big question now is how long this market drop will last. Since the new tariffs don’t kick in for another seven days, there’s a small window for countries to maybe talk things out or reach some deal. But if those tariffs really do go live next week, it could hit global trade even harder and make businesses more nervous about what’s coming next.
For now, Wall Street is watching closely. Between the jobs report, the tariffs, and the inflation numbers, investors have plenty to worry about. And if nothing changes before August 7, markets might see more rough days ahead.
Also read about the impact of the tariffs on electronic supplies. What do you think about what tomorrow’s stock market is going to be like?
Discover more from Being Shivam
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.