Wall Street Ends Lower After Whipsaw Trading

Wall Street ended lower Tuesday after careening from a small gain to 10% below its record.

• The S&P 500 fell 42.49 points, or 0.8%, to 5,572.07. At one point, it was down 1.5%.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 478.23 points, or 1.1%, to 41,433.48.
• The Nasdaq composite fell 32.23 points, or 0.2%, to 17,436.10.

The whipsaw trading followed the latest escalation in President Trump's trade war, the AP reports. Trump said he would double his planned tariffs on steel and aluminum for Canada, a retaliation that prompted the provincial government of Ontario to back down on its planned surcharges on electricity sold to the US.

Gains for Tesla and other influential stocks muted the losses. Nvidia added 1.7%. Tesla, which fell more than 15% on Monday, rose 3.8% after Trump said he would buy a Tesla in a show of support for "Elon's 'baby.'" Delta Air Lines' stock lost 7.3% 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. Southwest Airlines also cut its forecast for an important underlying revenue trend, pointing to less government travel, among other reasons. Its stock nevertheless rallied 8.3%, though, after the airline said it would soon begin charging customers to check bags.

Tuesday's swings for the stock market 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. Trump has acknowledged the economy could feel some "disturbance" because of the tariffs he's pushing. Asked on Tuesday just how much pain Trump would be willing for the economy and stock market to take, when the market was nearing its lows, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to give an exact answer. But she said earlier in a press briefing that "the president will look out for Wall Street and for Main Street." (More stock market stories.)