Stocks tumble, dollar climbs as new tariff announcement eyed

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Global stocks dropped for the first time in three sessions on Wednesday and the U.S. dollar resumed its ascent as investors awaited the next tariff announcement from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump was scheduled to hold a press conference at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) and has recently confirmed the auto tariffs will be on cars.

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks ended sharply lower, as the technology sector dropped 2.46% to weigh heavily. Each of the three major U.S. indexes snapped a three-session streak of gains.

Stocks had shown signs of bottoming in recent days after coming under pressure due to uncertainty over the tariff outlook and its potential to slow the global economy and dent corporate profits. The major U.S. indexes are on track for their first back-to-back monthly declines since the two-month period that ended in October 2023. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 132.71 points, or 0.31%, to 42,454.79, the S&P 500 fell 64.45 points, or 1.12%, to 5,712.20 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 372.84 points, or 2.04%, to 17,899.02.

The U.S. Commerce Department said orders for durable goods increased 0.9% versus the estimate of economists polled by Reuters for a 1% fall, as businesses rushed to place orders for primary metals and fabricated metal products ahead of the anticipated tariffs.

Trump said on Monday automobile tariffs were coming soon, even as he indicated not all of his threatened levies would be imposed on April 2 and some countries may get exemptions. He also slapped 25% secondary tariffs on any country that buys oil or gas from Venezuela. 

"The conviction level amongst investors that April 2nd is going to be the clearing event now in terms of dealing with changes to trade-related policy seems to be pretty low in terms of that probability so there's likely to be a persistency in terms of the ongoing rollout of these types of headlines and policies that seem to have a little bit more staying power," said Matt Stucky, chief portfolio manager for equities at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose 0.33% to 104.56, with the euro down 0.37% at $1.0751. After dipping on Tuesday, the greenback is on track for its fifth gain in six sessions. 

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell 7.84 points, or 0.92%, to 845.65, while the pan-European STOXX 600 index closed down 0.7% as the coming tariffs spurred caution. 

European stocks have outperformed their U.S. counterparts this year, largely on hopes a German spending package could spur growth and help counter the levies. The STOXX 600 was poised for its biggest percentage gain since the fourth quarter of 2022. 

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.43% to 150.55. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said the central bank must raise interest rates if persistent increases in food costs lead to broad-based inflation. 

  New Bank of Japan board member Junko Koeda said the country's real interest rates are currently "extremely low," as inflation accelerates backed by solid growth in wages, but declined to comment on how soon the central bank should raise interest rates.

Sterling weakened 0.45% to $1.2885 after British finance minister Rachel Reeves cut the government's plans for spending increases to get back on track towards her fiscal targets. Earlier data showed British inflation slowed more than expected in February. 

U.S. Treasury yields were higher, with the yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes up 4.2 basis points to 4.333%, after briefly paring declines following an auction of $70 billion in five-year notes.  

Multiple Fed officials have recently cautioned against the Fed moving too quickly to cut rates in light of the uncertain environment, including Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari and St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem on Wednesday.

U.S. crude settled up 0.94% to $69.65 a barrel and Brent settled at $73.79 per barrel, up 1.05% on the day after government data showed U.S. crude oil and fuel inventories fell last week. Oil was also supported by mounting concerns about tighter global supply following the U.S. threat of tariffs on nations buying Venezuelan crude.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, additional reporting by Karen Brettell and Saeed Azhar in New YorkEditing by Rod Nickel and Sandra Maler)