Bear market bites as stocks sink after promising start

The wildly volatile markets showed massive swings once again on Tuesday as all the major indexes finished the day in the red.

The day started out promising as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 1,000 points, the S&P 500 jumped nearly 200 points, and the Nasdaq climbed more than 600 points in early trading. The relief rally was spurred by positive reports of tariff deals being worked on between the U.S. and other partners.

But as the day wore on, it became clear that no major deals were in the pipeline before the tariffs are set to kick in tomorrow, April 9.

Wild swings in the market

As a result, stocks gradually fell, dropping more precipitously closer to the closing bell. When the day ended, there was a more than 1,500-point swing in the Dow and a more than 1,000-point swing in the Nasdaq as stock ended decidedly lower.

The S&P 500 finished the day off about 79 points or 1.6%, while the Dow dropped 320 points or 0.8%. The Nasdaq plummeted 335 points of 2.1%, while the Russell 2000 sank 70 points or 3.9%.

Since last Wednesday’s tariffs announcement, the markets have now been down for four straight days, suffering major losses in each. The only green in the past four days was the Nasdaq, which rose a mere 16 points on Monday.

Since the April 2 tariff announcement, the S&P 500 has fallen 12.1% while the Dow has dropped 10.8%. The Nasdaq has shed 13.2% while the Russell 2000 has dropped 15%.

Year-to-date the S&P 500 is down 15.3% while the Dow is off 11.5%. The tech heavy Nasdaq is down 20.9% YTD, entering a bear market. Meanwhile, small -caps are also in a bear market as the Russell 2000 is down 21.3% YTD.