US Stocks Plummet As Trump's 15% Tariff Rocks Markets, Dow Drops 666 Points

New York: U.S. stocks are falling Monday after President Donald Trump took little time to ramp up his newest tariffs, but Wall Street is remaining much more calm than it did last year when his trade wars created chaos for financial markets.

The S&P 500 fell 0.8% after Trump said on Saturday that he would place temporary 15% tariffs on other countries. That’s up from the 10% rate he had announced Friday in response to a Supreme Court ruling that struck down his sweeping “reciprocal” taxes on imports from around the world.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 666 points, or 1.3%, as of 10:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.9% lower.

Trump’s quick shift toward even more aggressive tariffs shows how much uncertainty still hangs over the global economy, even after the Supreme Court said the president lacked the legal authority to institute his sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs.

Beyond a 15% tariff that could last for up to 150 days, unless Congress extends it further, Trump is moving forward on other avenues to place more permanent tariffs on countries and industries. That has trading partners worldwide uneasy. South Korea’s trade minister, Kim Jung-kwan, said Monday that uncertainty may worsen if the Trump administration continues imposing new tariffs under alternative laws.

In other markets, the U.S. dollar’s value edged lower against other currencies, while gold continued to rise thanks to its reputation as something safer to own during uncertain times. Bitcoin briefly fell below $65,000 overnight before pulling back toward $66,000.

On the whole, though, the moves remained much more modest than the panic that swept through global markets in April after Trump initially announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs.

Investors may be sensing it will take a long time, as well as more court battles, before more clarity comes about how global trade will look. “Stocks got a boost Friday from the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling, but it quickly became clear that the decision was simply going to open a new chapter in the trade saga, not end it,” according to Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.

On Wall Street, stocks of airlines fell after heavy snow and high winds canceled thousands of flights across the busy Northeast.

United Airlines lost 4.8%, American Airlines fell 4.9% and Delta Air Lines sank 4%.

Novo Nordisk’s stock that trades in the United States tumbled 15.9% after the Danish drugmaker said a trial for its CagriSema drug showed people lost a smaller percentage of their weight than with a similar one made by rival Eli Lilly. Eli Lilly rose 4.1%.

Bigger moves may be ahead for Wall Street this week, particularly with a profit report from Nvidia looming on Wednesday. The chip company is the U.S. market's most influential stock because it's the largest by value. So it would have a big effect under any scenario.

It's carrying particular weight now because of how integral its chips are to the artificial-intelligence industry. Euphoria around the possibilities of AI had sent stocks rising to record after record in recent years. But worries have been rising recently that companies may be spending so much on Nvidia's chips that they'll never be able to recoup their investments through higher productivity and future profits.

Investors have also begun punishing stocks of companies whose profits may be under threat because of potential rivals powered by AI.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe. Germany’s DAX lost 0.8%, while France’s CAC 40 added 0.1%. European stocks had risen on Friday after the Supreme Court’s ruling.

In Asia, where markets got their first chance to react to the court’s ruling, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.5%, while South Korea’s Kospi rose a more modest 0.6%. Markets in Japan and mainland China were closed for holidays.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.05% from 4.08% late Friday.

A top official at the Federal Reserve said Monday that it's “a coin flip” on whether the Fed will cut its main interest rate at its next meeting in March or stand pat again.

The comments from Fed. Gov. Christopher Waller were a notable shift from January, when he was one of the two Fed governors to dissent against the central bank’s decision to hold its key rate steady after three rate cuts at the end of last year.

Lower rates would give the economy a boost, and Trump has been lobbying angrily for them. But they also could risk worsening inflation.