Stocks’ worst week in the first few months, as trade unrest hangs on Wall Street

U.S. stock markets have led in their worst weeks in months after a series of dazzling policy shifts on tariffs by the White House.

The S&P 500 rose as trading began Friday. The silent move still lowered the weekly index by 3.4%, which was the third consecutive week of losses and the worst week since September of course.

Emotional shifts have been around since the index hit a record record less than a month ago as investors fear the trajectory of economic growth, thus making people worse by tariffs imported from the country’s largest trading partner. The survey also shows the continued attention of consumers.

On Friday, new reports on the labor market provided some relief. The data show that hiring at a modest pace is enough to alleviate concerns about reviving inflation, but strong enough to avoid worrying about a slowdown.

Lara Castleton, head of U.S. portfolio construction and strategy for Janus Henderson Investors, said the data could alleviate “overly acidified expectations” about the economy.

“After having a lot of confidence in the economy, market participants want to confirm or reverse that sentiment,” she said.

Investors who hoped President Trump’s tariff threat was just a negotiating strategy were disappointed Tuesday, when 25% tariffs were in effect on Mexico and Canada and another 10% tariffs on China. The concession was made Thursday, suspending tariffs on many goods from Canada and Mexico but failed to hold a rally.

“I think the market is essentially more serious about President Trump,” said Jim Caron, chief investment officer of the Morgan Stanley Investment Institute. He said that despite the recent sell-off of major stock indexes, it is still close to record highs and the economy is still in good shape.

Most of the sell-off is driven by large tech companies, which has had a big impact on the broad index due to its size. The index fell 6.5% as the S&P 500 peaked on February 19. During the same period, a separate measure made all stocks equal in weight in the index, down just 4.1%.

What is unclear is whether investors are selling because they see the trend of tech companies or the wider concerns.

“In the past few weeks, maybe in the next few weeks, we’ve gone through a very challenging news cycle,” Karen said. “We need to address this and evaluate how much damage the market has done to the market.”