Wall Street Turmoil Deepens As Trump Threatens Massive China Tariffs, Bitcoin Wobbles At $78K: What's Driving Markets Monday?

A chaotic and volatile session kicked off the new week on Wall Street, with a start that offers little reason for optimism.

The S&P 500 opened with a gap below 4,900 points, then fiercely rebounded in the first hour of trading before the gains swiftly evaporated. Sentiment further deteriorated after Donald Trump adopted a more aggressive tone toward China.

On Truth Social, Trump stated that China had imposed retaliatory tariffs of 34%, on top of what he described as already record-setting tariffs, despite prior warnings that such measures would be met with significantly higher U.S. tariffs. He added that if China did not reverse the 34% hike by April 8, the United States would respond with additional tariffs of 50%, effective the following day.

He also indicated that all discussions with China regarding their requested meetings would be terminated, while negotiations with other countries that had expressed interest in talks would begin immediately.

The European Union signaled openness to implementing a zero-for-zero tariff agreement on industrial goods with the United States.

By 12:40 p.m. ET, the S&P 500 was down 0.8%, the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.2%, and the Dow dropped 1.4%. Every sector remained in the red, with real estate and materials leading the losses.

In commodities, gold slipped 1.2%, heading for its third consecutive session of declines, while oil prices fell 2.3% to $60 a barrel, now down 16% from last week’s highs.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), which had been spared from last week’s global market rout, joined the bloodbath over the weekend, dropping 6.4% on Sunday and holding at $78,000 on Monday.

Monday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	Chg %
Nasdaq 100	17,363.12	-0.2%
S&P 500	5,026.51	-0.9%
Russell 2000	1,806.00	-1.2%
Dow Jones	37,781.52	-1.4%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) eased 0.7% to $502.84.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) fell 1.2% to $378.31.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (NASDAQ:QQQ) eased 0.2% to $421.93.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) fell 0.9% to 179.64.
• The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLC) outperformed, up 0.1%; the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLRE) lagged, down 2.2%.

S&P 500’s Major Gainers

• Super Micro Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:SMCI) up 9.03% to $32.51
• Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR) up 5.61% to $71.34
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) up 5.16% to $13.45
• Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) up 4.74% to $61.89
• EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) up 4.65% to $48.26
• Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET) up 4.65% to $67.36
• Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MCHP) up 4.64% to $37.90

S&P 500’s Major Losers

• Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) down 5.39% to $32.91
• Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) down 5.12% to $55.35
• Genuine Parts Company (NYSE:GPC) down 5.07% to $110.88
• Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) down 5.03% to $56.03
• AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO) down 4.96% to $3,472.18
• NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) down 4.80% to $54.50
• The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) down 4.77% to $337.01

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.