Stocks fell on Thursday, with equities unable to shake a three-week market rout under the weight of new tariff threats from President Donald Trump.

The S&P 500 dropped 1.39% to settle at 5,521.52. The index ended the day in correction, 10.1% off its record close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 537.36 points, or 1.3%, marking its fourth day of declines and closing at 40,813.57. The Nasdaq Composite shed 1.96% with shares of Tesla and Apple lower.

Trump took to his Truth Social platform Thursday morning to threaten 200% tariffs on all alcoholic products coming from countries in the European Union in retaliation for the bloc's 50% tariff on whisky. "This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.," he wrote. Trump later remarked that he wouldn't be changing his mind on a broader group of tariffs set to be implemented on April 2.

The disorderly rollout of Trump's U.S. trade policy has rattled markets this month, with investors worried it was pressuring corporate and consumer confidence. The losses have intensified this week. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are respectively on track for losses of 4.3% and 4.9% week to date. The Dow is off about 4.7% in the period, tracking for its worst week since June 2022.

The Nasdaq was already well into correction territory heading into Thursday's session and now sits more than 14% below its recent record. The small-cap benchmark Russell 2000 is approaching a bear market, down roughly 19% from its high. On Wall Street, corrections are defined as losses of 10% and bear markets are drawdowns of 20%.

"These tariff wars are intensifying before they're abating. It just adds to unpredictability and uncertainty, and that's a negative for stocks, obviously," said Thomas Martin, portfolio manager at Globalt Investments.

On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the Trump administration is more focused on the long-term health of the economy and markets, rather than short-term movements. "I'm not concerned about a little bit of volatility over three weeks," he said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."

Stocks fell despite some encouraging inflation signs. February's producer price index — which measures the cost of producing consumer goods and is a good indicator of inflationary pressures — was flat that month, compared with an expected increase. This follows a softer-than-expected February consumer price index reading.

Though market strategists have been watching for a technical bounce after the recent sell-off, some say the latest inflation data likely isn't enough to lead to a sizable rebound. Concerns over Trump's trade policies remain a key hangover on investor sentiment, and they throw into question how the Federal Reserve may proceed on interest rates.

Correction: A quote by Thomas Martin was previously misattributed to another investor.

S&P 500 closes in correction territory

The S&P 500 closed in correction territory on Thursday, or more than 10% off a recent high.

The broad market index shed 1.39%, closing at 5,521.52. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 537.36 points, or 1.30%, and settled at 40,813.57. The Nasdaq Composite slid 1.96% and finished at 17,303.01.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Apple on track for worst week since March 2020

Apple shares have fallen more than 12% this week, on track for its worst week since March 2020.

The iPhone maker is trading at its lowest level since August 2024 after falling 11 of the past 13 trading days. Since its record close in December, the company has lost nearly 20% of its value, or around $776 billion in market cap.

— Adrian van Hauwermeiren

U.S. recession unlikely unless global trade conflicts escalate more than expected, UBS says

Global trade tensions, alongside signs of softening economic data, have heightened fears of a slowdown in recent days. But investors predicting a looming recession may be getting ahead of themselves, UBS said in a Thursday note.

"Data this week have also underlined mounting concern that higher tariffs are taking a toll on business confidence and could push prices higher over coming months," the firm wrote. "This has fed into recent fears that the U.S. economy could be headed for recession, or stagflation — a combination of weak growth and elevated inflation. But, in our view, these worries are unlikely to be realized unless the global trade conflicts escalate more than we expect."

— Lisa Kailai Han

Barclays sees additional rate cut in September

Barclays believes President Trump's higher tariff policies could lower U.S. GDP and raise inflation in the near term. On the back of these assumptions, the bank recently added one more interest rate cut to its forecast for this year.

"We now expect the FOMC to lower rates 25bp twice this year, in June and in September. We added another rate cut to our previous baseline that assumed one rate cut in June," wrote chief U.S. economist Marc Giannoni. "For 2026, we expect three 25bp rate cuts, in March, June and September."

— Lisa Kailai Han

Deutsche Bank reaffirms overweight on European equities despite tariff fears

Deutsche Bank reaffirmed its bullish stance on Europe in a recent note, despite ongoing fears of how President Trump's new tariffs could impair the region.

"The market is waking up to the fact, that tariffs are not only bad for European but at least as negative for U.S. companies. Companies producing in the U.S. now have to pay 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, 20% extra tariffs on Chinese imports and potentially soon also on European imports," wrote strategist Maximilian Uleer. "European companies on the other hand have a revenue exposure of about 21% to the U.S. We expect that 80-90% of those revenues are produced local for local. It is less than clear, that European companies are being hit harder by tariffs than U.S. companies."

In the same note, Uleer explicitly reaffirmed his overweight on European equities.

"Despite the strongest outperformance of European equities versus U.S. equities into a year since 2000, we see our case for an overweight of European equities confirmed. We expect Small and Mid Caps companies to outperform European Large Caps, as these companies have a higher local tilt and benefit more from a relative European recovery," he added.

— Lisa Kailai Han

6 S&P 500 sectors drop more than 10% from 52-week highs

The majority of sectors that comprise the S&P 500 are pulling back in a big way.

Six of 11 sectors that make up the broad index have tumbled at least 10% from their most recent 52-week high. Here are the six, along with how much they pulled back from their respective highs:

1. Consumer discretionary: -21.7%
2. Information technology: -15.4%
3. Communication services: -14.6%
4. Materials: -14.2%
5. Energy: -11.9%
6. Industrials: -10.7%

— Alex Harring, Gina Francolla

Trade war uncertainty will likely peak from April to July, Alpine Macro says

Tariff-related headlines have rocked markets in recent weeks, but Alpine Macro believes the worst is yet to come.

"The moment of maximum tariff-related pain likely remains ahead, potentially peaking April-July, given credible threats of more 25% sectoral tariffs (autos, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, etc.), reciprocal tariffs on key trading partners, higher tariffs targeting China and the E.U., and additional non-border-related tariffs on Canada and Mexico," the macro research firm wrote in a Thursday note. "Markets have not fully priced those in (e.g., E.U. tariff wars that are just starting now, but more E.U.-specific tariff announcements are expected after April 1)."

Dan Alamariu, the firm's chief geopolitical strategist, added that certainty will not be possible until trade policies and retaliation likely stabilize, which should take place two or three months after April at the earliest.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Oil prices will continue to be a key factor in inflation, Wolfe Research says

Wolfe Research found that energy, shelter and transportation services were the biggest contributors to February's decrease in headline CPI. At least in the near term, the firm expects this trend to continue.

"We believe that oil prices will continue to play a key factor in inflation going forward. While the cost of energy has a large influence on headline CPI, we've found that energy prices also work their way into Core CPI through Transportation Services, which makes up roughly ~8%," wrote Chris Senyek, the firm's chief investment strategist.

Senyek added that the CPI report bolsters the case for the Fed to cut rates twice in 2025.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Close to 60% of Main Street investors are bearish on stocks for a record third week

Nearly 60% of retail investors remain bearish on the six-month outlook for stock prices for a record third consecutive week, according to the latest survey by the American Association of Individual Investors. Pessimism edged higher to 59.2% in the latest week from 57.1% last week, down a touch from a multiyear high of 60.6% reached just two weeks ago.

Never before has bearish opinion been above 57% for three consecutive weeks, the association said. The historical average for bearish views is just 31.0%.

Optimism has also been little changed for three weeks, amounting to 19.1% this week versus 19.3% last week and 19.4% two weeks ago. That's far below the bullish historical average of 37.5%, and is the lowest bullish reading since September 2022, the first time ever that optimism has been below 20% for three straight weeks, the AAII said.

Asked for their opinion of other investors, almost 32% of AAII members said others are too bearish, roughly 35% said sentiment is about right and almost 24% said other investors are too bullish. The rest had no opinion or were unsure.

— Scott Schnipper

Home construction fund trading at lowest level since 2023

On Thursday, the iShares Home Construction ETF (ITB) was trading 2% lower, on pace for its fifth daily decline in a row and hitting its lowest level since Dec. 13, 2023.

This would mark the fund's longest slide since an eight-day losing streak in December 2024.

Thursday's leg down was led by Arhaus, Home Depot, Builders FirstSource and NVR, which were all more than 3% lower on the day.

— Nick Wells, Lisa Kailai Han

Fears around cruise lines are 'overdone,' Barclays says

Rising economic uncertainty and fears of waning demand have pushed cruise stocks lower recently. Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival and Royal Caribbean have respectively fallen 28%, 21% and 15% this month.

But in a Thursday note, Barclays analyst Brandt Montour called these fears "overdone."

"In the midst of severe macro volatility and mounting economic uncertainty, it is unsurprising that Cruise Line shares have underperformed the market (-23% on average over the last month, vs. SPX -7%), based on the industry's long period of uninterrupted recovery post-COVID, crowded investor positioning, and outsized operating leverage within the business (and history)," he wrote. "The recent equities rout implies a roughly 5% impact to yields. We see this scenario as unlikely given 1) the still significant pricing discount to land-based vacations, which should act as a buffer to demand (this buffer was much thinner in past downturns), 2) decelerating/modest supply growth, and 3) a more rational industry pricing structure."

— Lisa Kailai Han

Wolfe Research sees a 'period of sustained weakness' ahead for crypto

Despite cryptocurrencies slipping from their all-time highs in recent sessions, Wolfe Research said in a recent note that now was not the time to buy in.

"While we hold out hope for the group, knowing bullish commentary / news is always capable of sending prices soaring overnight, we are bound to the charts. That said, we are seeing notable breakdowns across the board through key support levels. This is not the action of a group readying to rally," wrote analyst Rob Ginsberg. "Instead, we fear it speaks towards a shift into a period of sustained weakness."

He added: "A move above $91-92k would allow for a sigh of relief in the near term — Our sense is that it would likely get sold however. We simply don't see an environment capable of supporting a meaningful turnaround in Crypto. Outside of using BTC as a store of value, we see little reason to step into other coins while risk off activity continues to prevail."

— Lisa Kailai Han

13 stocks in the S&P 500 trade at new 52-week lows

During Thursday's session, 13 stocks in the S&P 500 index traded at new 52-week lows.

Tickers that hit this milestone included:

• Deckers Outdoor trading at lows not seen since January 2024
• Ross Stores trading at lows not seen since November 2023
• Target trading at lows not seen since November 2023
• Agilent trading at lows not seen since November 2023
• Cooper Companies trading at lows not seen since October 2023
• Builders FirstSource trading at lows not seen since November 2023
• Hubbell trading at lows not seen since January 2024
• IDEX Corporation trading at lows not seen since July 2022
• Adobe trading at lows not seen since May 2023
• PTC Inc. trading at lows not seen since November 2023
• Avery Dennison trading at lows not seen since November 2023
• LyondellBasell trading at lows not seen since September 2022
• Host Hotels trading at lows not seen since October 2023

— Christopher Hayes, Lisa Kailai Han

Shares of LVMH fall on tariff fears

Shares of LVMH, which trade in France, shed 1% on Thursday.

The luxury stock, which owns brands such as Hennessy and Moet & Chandon, slipped on more trade war fears after President Donald Trump threatened to levy a 200% tariff on wine and champagne exported from the European Union. LVMH is now on pace for its ninth straight negative day, which would mark its longest losing streak since August 2021.

— Adrian van Hauwermeiren, Lisa Kailai Han

Citi sees 32% upside ahead for Boeing

The market is undervaluing Boeing's long-term growth potential, according to Citi.

While the market is pricing in less than 1% free-cash-flow growth in perpetuity, the firm expects a 3% to 5% growth rate for the foreseeable future in both the defense end and commercial aerospace markets, analyst Jason Gursky said in a note Thursday.

He reiterated his buy rating and $210 price target, which implies 32% upside from Wednesday's close.

"On the Commercial side, we see structural growth driven by necessity stemming both from the need of replacing an aging aircraft fleet as well as anticipated growth in global passengers," Gursky wrote.

On the defense side, he expects strong near-term growth due to supplemental funding for Ukraine and Israel. In addition, the stated objective in the National Security and Defense Strategies is to invest in ensuring peace, he said.

Shares of Boeing are down nearly 10% year to date.

— Michelle Fox

Gold closing in on record high from Feb. 24

Gold's April-dated futures were last trading near 2,963.3, near their highs of the session. They were closing in on their record high of 2,974 from Feb. 24.

Gold has gained 1.6% week to date, pacing for their second weekly gain. The VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX), which encompasses both gold and silver miners, rose 2% and was on pace for its third straight day of gains.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Stocks open lower

The S&P 500 opened lower on Thursday, giving up some of its Wednesday gains.

The market benchmark shed 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 85 points, or 0.2%. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.4%.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Intel, Adobe among the names making moves before the bell

Check out the names making moves in the premarket:

• Intel – The stock jumped 10% after the company said it had appointed Lip-Bu Tan – who was previously the chief executive of software company Cadence Design Systems – as its new CEO. Tan is replacing interim co-CEOs David Zinsner and MJ Holthaus.
• UiPath – Shares fell 18% following the software company's fourth-quarter revenue and first-quarter sales guidance missing Wall Street estimates. For the fourth quarter, UiPath posted revenue of $424 million, below the $425 million that analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting. The company also expects revenue for the current quarter to come in between $330 million and $335 million, while analysts were looking for $368 million.
• Adobe – Shares dropped 6% on the heels of Adobe issuing lackluster fiscal second-quarter guidance. The company sees earnings of $4.95 per share to $5 per share on revenue of $5.77 billion to $5.82 billion in the period. Analysts had penciled in earnings of $5 per share on $5.8 billion in revenue.

Read the full list here.

— Sean Conlon

Wholesale inflation unchanged in February

The producer price index, a measure of wholesale inflation, was flat in February — another potential sign that inflation pressures may be ebbing. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a month-over-month increase of 0.3%.

— Fred Imbert

Russia rejects Ukraine ceasefire deal, report says

The proposed 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine has been rejected by a Russian negotiator, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday morning.

"This is nothing other than a temporary time-out for Ukrainian soldiers, nothing more. Our goal is a long-term peaceful resolution," Yuri Ushakov, a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, told Russian state television on Thursday, according to the report. "Steps that imitate peaceful actions are not needed."

Ukraine had previously agreed to the deal.

— Jesse Pound

Morgan Stanley double upgrades Houlihan Lokey

Houlihan Lokey is a defensive play as market volatility pressures investment banking, per Morgan Stanley.

The firm double-upgraded its rating on Houlihan Lokey shares to overweight from underweight, citing its lower earnings volatility. Because the firm's revenues are more tied to restructuring, which is counter-cyclical, relative to its competitors, its revenues are more resilient, per analyst Betsy Graseck.

"Our Overweight rating reflects a way to play the bear scenario, as HLI generally holds up better than peers in risk-off environments and has a lower beta to the overall M&A cycle," Graseck wrote in a note on Thursday.

— Hakyung Kim

Barclays downgrades American Eagle Outfitters

Barclays is stepping away from American Eagle Outfitters as the macro backdrop deteriorates.

The firm downgraded shares of the apparel company to underweight from equal weight. Analyst Adrienne Yih also lowered her price target to $10 from $17.

"We expect the weakening macro to weigh on teen spending in 2025," Yih wrote in a note on Wednesday.

Rising uncertainty from President Donald Trump's tariffs is another headwind for the company, per Yih. American Eagle manufactured around a fifth of its global production in China last year. Potential tariffs on Vietnam are another risk for the company, which made up to 20% of its goods in the country.

— Hakyung Kim

Asia-Pacific stocks fall after soft U.S. inflation report pushes two Wall Street benchmarks up; Seven & i shares rise as much as 3.6%

Asia-Pacific markets fell on Thursday after a soft inflation report in the U.S. helped two of the three benchmarks on Wall Street reverse course from two days of losses.

The consumer price index — a broad-based measure of costs across the U.S. economy — increased 0.2% month-on-month in February, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.8%.

Over in Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 ended the day flat at 36,790.03 while the broader Topix index edged up 0.13% to close at 2,698.36.

Shares of Seven & i Holdings gained as much as 3.60%, following Canadian convenience store operator Alimentation Couche-Tard's press conference on buying the 7-Eleven operator.

Couche-Tard, which owns the Circle-K convenience store chain, has been pursuing Seven & i for months and put in a $47 billion bid for the Japanese retail giant. This would be Japan's largest-ever foreign buyout if the deal is completed. However, Couche-Tard has so far mostly received frosty reception from Seven & i.

Couche-Tard founder and Executive Chairman Alain Bouchard said the company has had "many discussions" with Seven & i's new CEO Stephen Dacus, "but it has always stopped at the regulatory ask, the thing that we cannot overcome."

South Korea's Kospi index closed flat at 2,573.64. Meanwhile, the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.92% to close at 722.80, reversing course from gains earlier in the session

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipped 0.57% to close at 23,463.26 while mainland China's CSI 300 fell 0.40% to 3,911.58, in choppy trade.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 ended the day 0.48% lower at 7,749.10. This is the third consecutive day that the index is ending in negative territory.

India's benchmark Nifty 50 was down 0.18%, while the BSE Sensex was flat as at 1.30 p.m. local time.

— Amala Balakrishner

Dan Niles says tech sell-off is driven by revenue estimates, not tariffs

Hedge fund manager Dan Niles believes megacap tech stocks were knocked down by concerns of revenue growth instead of tariffs.

"It's not the tariffs knocking these tech stocks down. It is the fact that revenue estimates were six out of the seven biggest in the Mag Seven all went down for Q1 after reporting Q4," he said on CNBC's "Closing Bell."

The founder of Niles Investment Management said he bought the dip in these beaten-down shares this week. Going into 2025, Niles named cash as a top pick for the first time since the market drop in 2022. He also didn't recommend Mag Seven names in his top five picks.

— Yun Li

We've largely seen a rotation rather than a selloff, strategist says

Much of the recent market action can be contributed to an unwinding of investors' positioning, according to Michael Green, chief strategist of Simplify Asset Management.

"The really key thing that I would highlight is that rather than an outright sell-off, so far what we've seen is largely rotation," he told CNBC in an interview. "There's been a combination of money rotating out of the United States and into Europe, Japan, Canada. To a certain extent that's contributed to the weakness in the dollar as that capital account money has returned to their home countries."

Green added: "That likely puts additional pressure on forward inflation trends, and so offset some of the benefits of the weaker economy. It also suggest that there may actually be more issues with inflation than we had anticipated.

— Lisa Kailai Han

Adobe, SentinelOne moving after market close

Check out the companies making headlines in after-hours trading:

• Adobe — The software vendor's shares slipped around 3% after the company issued an outlook for the fiscal second quarter that failed to impress investors. Adobe said revenue for the period would range between $4.27 billion and $4.30 billion, compared to the StreetAccount consensus estimate of $4.29 billion. Adjusted earnings are expected to land between $4.95 and $5 a share, while analysts sought $5 per share.
• American Eagle Outfitters — American Eagle issued weak guidance, leading shares about 5% lower. For the current quarter, the company expects to see a mid-single-digit decline in sales, while analysts polled by LSEG expected revenue to increase 1.3%. The company still beat on the bottom line and same-store sales came in ahead of expectations.
• SentinelOne — The cybersecurity stock declined about 15% after SentinelOne gave a disappointing revenue outlook, expecting first-quarter revenue to come out at $228 million, while analysts polled by LSEG had forecast $235 million. The company exceeded earnings and revenue expectations in its fourth quarter, however.

For the full list, read here.

— Pia Singh

Stock futures open little changed

Futures tied to the S&P 500 dropped less than 0.1% shortly after 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 19 points, or 0.05%, while Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.1%.

— Pia Singh