Today the United States stock markets had mixed movements as investors dealt with economic uncertainty and policy announcements from President Donald Trump. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.9%, while the S&P 500 went up a slim 0.2%. It was a rough day for Nasdaq, weighed down by Tesla,Meta, and Nvidia. 

The reason for the uncertainty in today’s stock market is because of the upcoming “Liberation Day” on April 2nd. This means the tariff policies by President Donald Trump will be enacted on April 2nd, which is Wednesday of this week. One of the big data points of this is that there will be a 25% tariff on foreign vehicles, and reciprocal tariffs targeting nations imposing duties on U.S. goods. Some fear that these tariffs will create a global economic shutdown and stagflation. Companies such as Ford and General Motors were down on the US market today.

Economic data also played a role in the sluggish market today. The projectile of retail sales growth in February was expected at 0.6% but fell to 0.2%. This slowdown has raised many questions and concerns about consumer spending trends. On the bright side, the orders of durable goods improved by 0.9%. 

Looking at the rest of this week going into April it is going to be busy for investors. Key economic reports such as the March jobs due Friday,April 4th. The policy makers of the Federal Reserve are meeting later this week too. They plan to discuss rate cuts because of the slowing growth rates.

The month of March as a whole has been rough for investors, and they are ready to go into April. The S&P 500 is down over 6% for March, which is the worst since September 2022. The Nasdaq is down 8%, and the Dow is down 5.2% for the month. Investors will be careful for the rest of the week.