US stocks close lower as tariff uncertainty weighs

NEW YORK, - U.S. stocks were little for a 2nd consecutive league connected Tuesday arsenic comments from U.S. President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent provided small clarity to the timeline for immoderate commercialized deals.

Trump said helium and apical medication officials volition reappraisal imaginable commercialized deals implicit the adjacent 2 weeks to determine which ones to accept. In addition, Trump met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney for the archetypal time, which yielded nary contiguous results. Trump's comments ran somewhat antagonistic to earlier statements from Bessent, who said the medication could denote immoderate commercialized agreements arsenic aboriginal arsenic this week.

"It is each astir negotiating the tariffs and Trump talks similar he's going to deed location runs here; he's going to beryllium precise blessed if we conscionable get much of a level playing field," said Tim Ghriskey, elder portfolio strategist astatine Ingalls & Snyder successful New York.

"The chaotic card, the large chaotic paper is China, I don't deliberation the EU is going to beryllium truly casual here, I don't deliberation Canada is going to beryllium casual arsenic well. But China is the large 1 and surely they are going to beryllium precise pugnacious negotiators, and we mightiness person to spell it unsocial without China for a while."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 389.83 points, oregon 0.95%, to 40,829.00, the S&P 500 mislaid 43.48 points, oregon 0.77%, to 5,606.90 and the Nasdaq Composite mislaid 154.58 points, oregon 0.87%, to 17,689.66. Commerce Department information showed businesses boosted imports of goods successful March up of the tariff announcements, pushing the country's trade deficit to a grounds precocious of $140.5 billion.

Late connected Monday Trump said helium would denote pharmaceutical tariffs implicit the adjacent 2 weeks, his latest announcement regarding levies that person whipsawed planetary fiscal markets implicit the past fewer months.

Healthcare, down 2.8%, was the worst performing of the 11 large S&P sectors, with Eli Lilly, down 5.6%, and Moderna, disconnected 12.3%, among the biggest drags. Vaccine makers specified arsenic Vertex Pharmaceuticals, which tumbled 10%, saw further unit aft an interior email seen by Reuters showed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has named Vinay Prasad, an oncologist who has antecedently criticized the FDA and was a fierce professional of COVID-19 vaccine and disguise mandates, arsenic the manager of its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Stocks person been volatile since Trump announced his archetypal circular of tariffs connected April 2, with the S&P 500 initially dropping astir 15%, lone to stabilize and concisely retrieve to levels from earlier the tariffs were announced.

The tariff uncertainty has soured user sentiment data, and galore companies person withdrawn their nett outlooks. Comments from Federal Reserve officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, suggest the cardinal slope would beryllium diligent earlier adjusting monetary argumentation until the interaction of tariffs is reflected successful economical data.

The Fed started its two-day gathering connected Tuesday, with the cardinal slope wide expected to support involvement rates unchanged.

Markets are presently pricing successful a astir 80% accidental for a chopped of astatine slightest 25 ground points (bps) to hap astatine the July meeting, according to information compiled by LSEG.

Constellation Energy jumped 10.3% arsenic the champion performer connected the S&P 500 aft its quarterly results, helping to assistance the utilities assemblage 1.2%. In contrast, shares of information analytics steadfast Palantir, among the champion S&P 500 performers connected the year, tumbled 12%, arsenic investors were unimpressed by the company's humble gross bushed and inline profit.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.35-to-1 ratio connected the NYSE and by a 1.82-to-1 ratio connected the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 9 caller 52-week highs and 9 caller lows portion the Nasdaq Composite recorded 29 caller highs and 106 caller lows.

Volume connected U.S. exchanges was 14.24 cardinal shares, compared with the 17.95 cardinal mean for the afloat league implicit the past 20 trading days.