Dow Plunges More Than 2K as Selloff Continues

The worldwide sell-off for financial markets moved into an even higher, scarier gear on Friday, per the AP.

• The Dow fell 2,231 points, or 5.5%, to 38,314. This follows Thursday's plunge of nearly 1,700 points.
• The S&P 500 fell 322 points, or 5.9%, to 5,074. The benchmark index has shed 10% in two days, notes CNBC.
• The Nasdaq fell 962 points, or 5.8%, to 15,587. Tech companies that sell products to China have been battered.

• Markets are facing their worst crisis since the COVID crash after China matched President Trump's big raise in tariffs in an escalating trade war. Not even a better-than-expected report on the US job market, which is usually the economic highlight of each month, was enough to stop the slide.
• Trump criticized China's retaliation on Friday, saying on his Truth Social platform that "CHINA PLAYED IT WRONG, THEY PANICKED - THE ONE THING THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO DO!"
• "The world has changed, and the economic conditions have changed," said Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of global fixed income at BlackRock.
• The central question is: Will the trade war cause a global recession? If it does, stock prices will likely need to come down even more than they have already.

(More stock market stories.)