Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq sink as Trump announces more tariff exemptions on Mexico

The markets sank back toward session lows on Thursday after President Trump announced that tariffs on goods and services from Mexico that fall under the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA) would be delayed until April 2.

However, the president did not say the same about Canada.

“After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement. This Agreement is until April 2nd,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“I did this as an accommodation, and out of respect for, President Sheinbaum,” he added.

The omission of Canada appears to have spooked the markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell more than 1% while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped 1.8%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) lost more than 2%.

Earlier on Thursday, Trump wrote, “Believe it or not, despite the terrible job he’s done for Canada, I think that Justin Trudeau is using the Tariff problem, which he has largely caused, in order to run again for Prime Minister. So much fun to watch!”

Yahoo Finance’s Laura Bratton reports:

Nvidia (NVDA) stock fell as much as 2.6% early Thursday, leading other chipmakers down as fears over AI demand continued to weigh on the sector.

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Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi reports:

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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick hinted that goods and services that are compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) are likely to be omitted for one month from the 25% tariffs implemented against Mexico and Canada earlier this week.

“The reprieve is for one month,” Lutnick said in an interview with CNBC.

“It’s likely that it will cover all USMCA compliant goods and services, so that which is part of President Trump’s deal with Canada and Mexico are likely to get an exemption from these tariffs,” Lutnick said.

The major averages pared losses following Lutnick’s comments.

The major averages opened lower on Thursday as investors assessed the impact of President Trump’s tariff policies and a disappointing sales outlook from Marvell (MRVL) weighed on tech stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell about 0.9% while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped 1.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) lost 1.8% led by losses of Nvidia (NVDA), Broadcom (AVGO), and AMD (AMD).

Tech is leading to the downside after Marvell’s (MRVL) quarterly sales forecast failed to calm anxieties over the AI payoff.

Thursday was shaping out to be a reversal from Wednesday’s session when stocks saw sharp gains after the Trump administration granted a temporary exemption to the Big Three automakers following the implementation of 25% levies against trading partners Canada and Mexico.

Data from the Department of Labor released Thursday morning showed 221,000 initial jobless claims were filed in the week ending March 1, down from 241,000 the week prior and below the 233,000 economists had expected.

However, in a sign unemployed workers are taking longer to find a new job, continuing claims for unemployment benefits during the week ending Feb. 22 moved higher. 1.89 million claims were filed during the week, up from the 1.855 million the week prior. Continuing claims are hovering near a three-year high.

Additional data released Thursday morning showed announced job cuts soared in February to 172,017, their highest monthly level since July 2020, per job placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. This marked a 245% increase in layoff announcements from the month prior. The firm noted cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and “retail woes” drove the increase in job eliminations.

Macy’s (M) stock fell 3% premarket after the iconic retailer missed expectations for fourth quarter same-store sales growth and issued cautious guidance.

Several other retailers forecast weaker outlooks this week, as executives broadly see tariffs as having an impact on sales. But it comes at a critical point for Macy’s, which has been attempting a turnaround.

Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma reports:

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German bonds are selling off again as investors react to the country’s historic move to ramp up spending on defense as the US pulls its military support in Europe. The rout echoed through debt markets worldwide, pulling down prices.

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Alibaba shares are rising in premarket, up almost 3%, following a surge for the stock in Asia as local tech names got a boost from the arrival of several new AI models.

The moves come after China-based DeepSeek sent ripples through Silicon Valley with its bombshell release of a potentially lower-cost AI chatbot rival to ChatGPT.

Bloomberg reports:

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Marvell (MRVL)

S in AI circuitry company Marvell Technology tumbled 15% after the bell on Wednesday. This is despite beating revenue and earnings expectations in all four of the previous quarters. The fall shows investors’ demand for ever-higher growth from AI businesses.

Zscaler (ZS)

Data cybersecurity company Zscaler saw a 5% jump in shares in after-hours trade. The company surprised by trouncing revenue and earnings expectations by over 10%.

MongoDB (MDB)

MongoDB shares saw the ire of disappointed traders. Despite posting positive revenue and earnings the company failed to beat Wall Streets expectations. Shares in the cloud-based database specialist dived 16% post-market close.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s (BABA) stock soared with the largest single-day jump in weeks after the company revealed a model that it claims provides DeepSeek-level performance while requiring far less data.

Bloomberg reports:

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