Market Slumps Despite Recovery, Trump Tariff Reversal and Strong Job Openings Report

U.S. stocks closed lower, with the Dow dropping 478 points. Despite a recovery in the final hour and a rebound in key tech stocks, concerns over tariffs, earnings warnings and inflation expectations kept the market weak.

The Dow settled lower by 478.23 points (1.14%), at 41,433.48, after scaling a low of 41,175.37 and a high of 41,868.27 in the session. The S&P 500 ended down 42.49 points (0.76%), at 5,572.07 while the Nasdaq settled lower by 32.23 points (0.18%), at 17,436.10. The Nasdaq climbed to 17,687.40 in the final hour, rallying from a low of 17,238.24.

U.S. President Donald Trump reconsidered plans to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50%, with Canada agreeing to suspend a 25% tariff hike on U.S. electricity exports in exchange for talks on renewing the North American trade agreement. A senior White House official confirmed the higher tariffs will not take effect tomorrow. Despite a recovery in the final hour, the market still closed weak.

Delta Air Line shares dropped more than 7% following a profit warning by the company. American Airlines ended more than 8% down. Verizon, Moderna, ResMed, Texas Instruments, IBM, Apple, Oracle and Chevron also declined sharply. Southwest Airlines soared 8%, after the airline said it would launch a new basis fare tire. Tesla climbed up sharply, gaining more than 3%, Boeing, Netflix, Micron Technology, Salesforce, Wells Fargo and Amazon also closed notably higher.

Labor Department released a report showing job openings in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of January. It also said job openings climbed to 7.74 million in January from a downwardly revised 7.51 million in December. Markets now await U.S. reports on consumer and producer price inflation, as well as readings on consumer sentiment and inflation expectations this week for further direction.

Meanwhile, investors now expect the Fed to cut interest rates by 88 basis points this year, compared to earlier expectations for 75 bps cut, according to LSEG data.

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