On Thursday, the U.S. stock market dropped sharply. Investors were worried about new tariffs (taxes on imports) and disappointing news from Walmart, which is the biggest retail store in the world. This led to a selloff, making all three major stock indexes – the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq – go down. The Dow had the biggest drop.
Walmart announced that it expects lower sales and profits than what experts predicted. This raised alarms about how well U.S. shoppers are doing since consumer spending is a big part of the economy. “Walmart’s bad news made some people nervous about how much we’ll spend in the future,” said Robert Pavlik, a money manager.
When Walmart’s stock price fell, it pulled the whole market down with it. Meanwhile, gold prices soared to a new high, which usually means that people are looking for safer investments amidst worries.
Walmart’s difficulties also hinted at how the company might be affected by U.S. President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on things like cars and drugs. “There’s a lot of uncertainty with tariffs—people are asking if this is a tactic or if it’s serious,” said Mike Dickson, another expert in finance.
Even though recent reports show that the job market is doing fine, some experts fear that job cuts from new government changes could disrupt things.
Here’s how the major indexes finished the day:
– S&P 500: Down 26.52 points (0.43%) to 6,117.63
– Nasdaq Composite: Down 94.22 points (0.47%) to 19,962.03
– Dow Jones Industrial Average: Down 450.69 points (1.00%) to 44,180.80
Other companies had mixed results. Palantir Technologies fell after the Pentagon signaled possible budget cuts. But shares of Alibaba went up after it beat revenue expectations, and Hasbro, the toy company, also did well. Baxter International, a medical device company, jumped after it gave a positive profit forecast for 2025.
