Equities close lower as tariff uncertainty weighs

U.S. stocks were lower for a second straight session on Tuesday as comments from U.S. President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent provided little clarity to the timeline for any trade deals.

Trump said he and top administration officials will review potential trade deals over the next two weeks to decide which ones to accept. In addition, Trump met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney for the first time, which yielded no immediate results.

Trump’s comments ran somewhat counter to earlier statements from Bessent, who said the administration could announce some trade agreements as early as this week.

“It is all about negotiating the tariffs and Trump talks like he’s going to hit home runs here; he’s going to be very happy if we just get more of a level playing field,” said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York.

“The wild card, the big wild card is China, I don’t think the EU is going to be really easy here, I don’t think Canada is going to be easy as well. But China is the big one and certainly they are going to be very tough negotiators, and we might have to go it alone without China for a while.”

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 44.86 points, or 0.78%, to end at 5,605.52 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 158.42 points, or 0.89%, to 17,685.82. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 397.69 points, or 0.96%, to 40,821.14.

Commerce Department data showed businesses boosted imports of goods in March ahead of the tariff announcements, pushing the country’s trade deficit to a record high of $140.5 billion.

Late on Monday Trump said he would announce pharmaceutical tariffs over the next two weeks, his latest announcement regarding levies that have whipsawed global financial markets over the past few months.

Healthcare was the worst performing of the 11 major S&P sectors, with Eli Lilly and Moderna among the biggest drags.

Vaccine makers such as Vertex Pharmaceuticals saw additional pressure after an internal email seen by Reuters showed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has named Vinay Prasad, an oncologist who has previously criticized the FDA and was a fierce critic of COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates, as the director of its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Stocks have been volatile since Trump announced his first round of tariffs on April 2, with the S&P 500 initially dropping nearly 15%, only to stabilize and briefly recover to levels from before the tariffs were announced.

The tariff uncertainty has soured consumer sentiment data, and many companies have withdrawn their profit outlooks. Comments from Federal Reserve officials, including Chair Jerome Powell, suggest the central bank would be patient before adjusting monetary policy until the impact of tariffs is reflected in economic data.

The Fed started its two-day meeting on Tuesday, with the central bank widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged.

Markets are currently pricing in a nearly 80% chance for a cut of at least 25 basis points (bps) to occur at the July meeting, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Constellation Energy jumped as the best performer on the S&P 500 after its quarterly results, helping to lift the utilities sector.

In contrast, shares of data analytics firm Palantir, among the best S&P 500 performers on the year, tumbled, as investors were unimpressed by the company’s modest revenue beat and inline profit.