Markets mixed after volatile trading day amid ongoing U.S. tariffs concerns

The TMX Market Centre at the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023. (Chloe Ellingson/Bloomberg)

North American stock markets muddled to a mixed close Monday as the effects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff announcement continued to reverberate.

Markets began the day with a steep selloff, before suddenly spiking higher in the morning — the S&P 500 briefly rose 3.4 per cent before giving up those gains.

A White House account on X said a rumour that Trump was considering a 90-day pause on the tariffs was “fake news,” taking the air out of the short-lived bounce.

“I think that these elevated levels of volatility are going to be with us for the next couple of weeks,” said Ilana Schonwetter, investment adviser and portfolio manager at Blueshore Financial.

“The intraday swings are obviously very, very aggressive, and I think investors need to kind of buckle down and not rush into making any decisions around either selling or buying.”

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 334.01 points at 22,859.46.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 349.26 points at 37,965.60. The S&P 500 index was down 11.83 points at 5,062.25, while the Nasdaq composite was up 15.48 points at 15,603.26.

Monday’s results come on the heels of big declines Thursday and Friday after Trump announced a sweeping round of global tariffs Wednesday evening, adding fuel to concerns that a recession is on the way.

Trump has referred to the market losses that resulted from his tariffs as a necessary “medicine,” part of a longer-term plan to repatriate production and factories to the U.S.

But market watchers and economists warn the tariffs will be inflationary and weigh on economic growth.

“The recent tariffs will likely increase inflation and are causing many to consider a greater probability of a recession,” wrote JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon in a letter to shareholders Monday.

“I think consensus (is) that if these tariffs remain in place for an extended period of time, it is going to have a huge impact on growth this year,” said Schonwetter.

“Most financial analysts and most CFOs are having a very hard time figuring out the true impact of these tariffs,” she added.

Trump is now threatening more tariffs on China after the country announced it would retaliate to last week’s round of duties.

Canada was spared from the latest round of tariffs but already faces levies on a number of exports to the U.S. including steel and aluminum. It has enacted retaliatory tariffs on a swath of American goods.

The Canadian dollar traded for 70.29 cents US compared with 70.34 cents US on Friday.

The May crude oil contract was down US$1.29 at US$60.70 per barrel after losing about US$10 per barrel late last week.

Enverus commodities expert Al Salazar is expecting WTI to average US$65 this year and US$60 next year.

His bearish outlook is due to the Trump administration’s tariffs on worldwide trading partners and how that could curb energy demand, as well as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ decision to defend their market share and boost production.

That makes it difficult for energy companies to make investment decisions.

“Any type of new capital investment I think has to be put on pause for a little bit to figure out what does this new global trade order look like and how that impacts overall demand for crude,” he said.

Salazar said investors can count on more extreme volatility ahead.

“I don’t think it’s uncertain anymore. I think it is quite certain. It’s just the final values of what’s lost is that I think people are gonna arm wrestle over.”

The May natural gas contract was down 18 cents US at US$3.66 per mmBTU.

The June gold contract was down US$61.80 at US$2,973.60 an ounce and the May copper contract was down 21 cents US at US$4.19 a pound.

— With files from The Associated Press and Lauren Krugel in Calgary

• S&P 500 market updates here

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 7, 2025.