Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 6, 2025.
NYSE
Stocks fell slightly Tuesday as investors failed to recover any ground after a steep sell-off driven by recession fears.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 166 points lower, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 was flat, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.5%.
Equities sold off during Monday’s session. The Nasdaq saw its worst day since September 2022, dropping 4%. The 30-stock Dow, which lost nearly 900 points, closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time since Nov. 1, 2023.
The latest pullback led Citigroup to lower its rating on U.S. stocks to neutral from overweight, pointing to a “pause in U.S. exceptionalism” as the reason. Adding to worries around the economy was the latest guidance from Delta Air Lines. The company slashed its earnings outlook due to weaker U.S. demand, pushing the stock down more than 5%.
Concerns have grown over the state of the U.S. economy since the White House adopted a more protectionist stance on trade, issuing tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China.
When asked about the possibility of a recession, President Donald Trump said during a Fox News interview that aired on Sunday that the economy was going through “a period of transition.” The remarks arrived after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Friday that there could be a “detox period” for the economy as the Trump administration slashes federal spending.
“Our takeaway is that the sell-off has been exacerbated by the unwinding of extended positioning in certain market segments, such as momentum and tech stocks, and is not necessarily a signal that US economic risks have escalated significantly,” wrote Ulrike Hoffman-Burchardi, head of CIO global equities at UBS Financial Services.
Investors are eagerly awaiting economic reports due later in the week. February’s reading of the consumer price index is due out on Wednesday morning, while that month’s data for the producer price index will be released on Thursday.
