Stocks slump yet again as fears grow about tariffs -- and a recession

By Maria Aspan

Published March 10, 2025 at 1:02 PM EDT

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell in New York City on March 10, 2025.

Updated March 10, 2025 at 18:46 PM ET

U.S. stock markets fell again on Monday, marking the worst day of the year, as investors grew increasingly fearful about tariffs — and a potential recession.

Wall Street was already coming off a volatile, negative week digesting the potential impact of new U.S. tariffs — and mounting whiplash from how President Trump has implemented, and then delayed, some of them.

By the end of last week, the major U.S. indices had each dropped by more than 2% for the week. The S&P 500 fell 3.1% — its largest decline since September.

Then, in a weekend interview with Fox News, Trump didn't rule out the possibility of a recession.

"I hate to predict things like that," Trump told Fox News. "There is a period of transition, because what we're doing is very big. We're bringing wealth back to America."

In contrast, Trump's Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, told NBC's Meet the Press that there was "no chance" of a recession.

But by midday Monday, U.S. investors appeared more worried than reassured.

The Dow slumped 890 points, or nearly 2.1%. The S&P 500 fell by 2.7%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 4%.