Stocks Slide Again After a Tariff Relief Rally. 145% Tariffs on China.

The stock market is falling again from a massive stock market rally that kicked in during afternoon trading yesterday once President Donald Trump announced that tariffs would be paused on all countries except China. Both China and the U.S. are locked in a trade war, and many expect China to retaliate further. The White House also clarified that tariffs on China are actually 145%.

Despite tariffs being paused, the EU is pausing its retaliation, and a cooler inflation report (2.4% vs 2.5% expected) this morning, and the market is selling off once more. It seems that the stock market is pricing in the higher baseline tariffs regardless. The U.S. tariffs remain historically high at 17%, and tariffs were only paused and not entirely canceled. Plus, there is a broader macro slowdown that many fear, and a looser tariff policy alone has not relieved those fears.

Given how volatile the market has been this week, the stock market could still end up being green. But so far, the relief rally has not continued.

Here’s a market update as of 10:30 A.M (ET) today.

• The S&P 500 is down 153.99 points, or 2.82%.
• The Nasdaq Composite is down 569.32 points, or 3.33%.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 949.02 points, or 2.34%.

Magnificent Seven Stocks Fall

The Mag 7 stocks are leading the losses again due to broader economic fears. There are ripple effects and, of course, high tariffs on China. 125% tariffs were called “bananas” on CNBC. If these tariffs remain, a whole new supply chain will be required. Companies would have to cut costs to fund that.

In fact, a CNBC reporter said the tariffs on China are actually 145% after a call with a White House official since the 125% tariffs are on top of the 20% fentanyl tariffs.

Regardless, there are also macro uncertainties you can blame for the fall today. The Mag 7 are down 3.7% collectively.

• NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is down 4% after a stunning double-digit gain yesterday.
• Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is down 6.4%. 
• Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is down 3.5%, even though the CEO said that Amazon has yet to see price hikes from tariffs. However, the Shenzhen Cross-Border E-Commerce Association head Wang Xin said that the “unprecedented blow” would cause Chinese sellers to hike prices or quit the U.S. market entirely. Prices likely haven’t been hiked yet as suppliers have stockpiled inventory ahead of tariffs.
• Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) is down 4.5% as it tapers off from Wednesday’s rally. A whistleblower also accused the company of working with China on censorship, though that’s unlikely to be the cause behind today’s decline.

Other Mag 7 stocks and big AI/chip stocks have also cratered today, but it is important to remember that they have yet to fully undo yesterday’s rally.

Notable Gainers Today

• Keros Therapeutics (NASDAQ: KROS) is up 15.5% as the company is going through a strategic review process which includes a potential sale.
• GDS Holdings (NASDAQ: GDS) is up 14.6%. It is a Chinese data center company that investors seem bullish on as China could decouple from U.S. data center solutions.
• USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ: USAR) is up 14.3% due to China’s export ban on rare earths. Investors expect domestic production to climb and benefit USAR.

No big-name stock has popped by double digits yet today, though gold stocks and some defensive names have seen some gains. UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH), Walmart (NYSE: WMT), and Costco (NASDAQ: COST) are up by low single digits.

Notable Losers Today

Most of the stock market is cooling from an explosive rally yesterday, so most stocks are “losers.” Here are the biggest ones.

• Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) is down 21%, as many pharma-related stocks have been plunging after a key FDA official stepped down.
• CarMax (NYSE: KMX) is down 19% due to a poor Q4 report. Profit missed expectations by 8 cents as it reported $0.58 in EPS.
• Red Cat Holdings (NASDAQ: RCAT) is down 17.5% after a $30 million direct stock sale. Investors don’t like the dilution.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©monsitj / iStock via Getty Images.