US Stock Markets Today: S&P 500, Dow Jones Fall Nearly 1% As Trump Levies Tariffs On Japan, South Korea

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average edged lower on Monday after US President Donald Trump's announced tariffs on Japan and South Korea.

S&P 500 declined 0.83%, whereas the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones was down 0.89% and 1.04%, respectively after Trump announced 25% tariff on South Korea and Japan.

This comes after S&P 500 and Nasdaq extended record highs on Thursday on stronger-than-expected jobs report. The payrolls increased 1.47 lakh after slight upward revisions in the last two months. Additionally, the unemployment rate fell to 4.1%. The markets had an early close on Thursday and were closed on Friday on account of Independence Day.

Trump, earlier in the day, said he would be announcing the issuance of tariff letters or inking of trade deal pacts with various countries starting 12:00 pm (EST).

"I am pleased to announce that the UNITED STATES TARIFF Letters, and/or Deals, with various Countries from around the World, will be delivered starting 12:00 P.M. (Eastern), Monday, July 7th (sic)," he posted earlier in the day on Truth Social.

Trump's tariff deadline “will create near-term uncertainty,” Mohit Kumar, chief European strategist at Jefferies International, told Bloomberg. “But the letters are meant as an incentive for other countries to agree to come to a deal quickly. Any dips in risky assets should be used as a buying opportunity.”

In the early minutes of trading, only two of the 11 sectoral indices were trading in green. Consumer discretionary and materials sector were leading the decline, whereas industrials and utilities were the only sectors in the positive.

Tesla Inc. saw its worst intraday drop since June 5, falling more than 7%. Walt Disney co. and Boeing co., shares were up nearly 0.38% and 0.25%, respectively. In addition, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald's Corp., and Salesforce Inc. were among the other gainers during open. On the other hand, Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., and Microsoft Corp. were also among the losers.

As the US market opened, spot gold was trading 0.86% lower at $3,308.52 an ounce. Crude oil prices rose, with the Brent trading 0.69% higher at $68.77 per barrel.

The Bloomberg Dollar Index rose 0.5%, with the British Pound falling 0.2% to $1.3598, while the Japanese yen was down 0.8% at 145.58 per dollar.

Bitcoin, the largest traded cryptocurrency, fell 0.3% to $108,422.59