<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>On-again, off-again </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/tariffs" rel="" target="" title="tariffs"><span>tariffs</span></a><span>, mass government layoffs, funding cuts and immigration crackdowns have seriously spooked Wall Street, which is emphatically rejecting US President </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/donald-trump" rel="" target="" title="Donald Trump"><span>Donald Trump</span></a><span>'s chaotic economic agenda.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The market that embraced Trump for most of his first term and in the lead-up to his second has turned on the president. The S&amp;P 500 closed in correction territory on Thursday, falling 10 per cent from the all-time high it set just three weeks ago.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Dow is approaching correction too. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell into a correction more than a week ago.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/paul-charlton-updates-man-convicted-of-singers-murder-claims-jury-got-it-wrong/1ca0e125-f1e4-40ba-a109-49c7c7a53e33"><strong><span>Man convicted of singer's murder claims jury got it wrong</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>And the Russell 2000, made up of smaller businesses, which are typically more exposed to shifting economic winds, has fallen a stunning 18.4 per cent from a high hit just after the election, which was within a whisker of its all-time record.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Even as stocks posed a modest comeback Friday — the Dow rose 200 points, or 0.5 per cent, at the open, the S&amp;P 500 was 0.9 per cent higher and the Nasdaq was up 1.4 per cent — sentiment on Wall Street has been overwhelmingly negative. CNN's Fear and Greed Index has plunged into "Extreme Fear."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The stock market is losing its confidence in the Trump 2.0 policies," said Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/finance/donald-trump-tariff-trade-wars-wall-street-turning-its-back-and-flashing-an-economic-warning/502fae46-07c6-440f-97c5-94cd01d550c5" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Instead, investors have poured money into traditional safe havens like government bonds and gold. Treasury yields, which trade in the opposite direction to prices, have tumbled over the past month. And spot gold prices on Friday hit $3,000 a troy ounce for the first time in history.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/gene-hackmans-estate-asks-court-to-block-release-of-death-investigation-records/e5c5851d-3fce-4b8e-bb94-bf73a36157ad"><strong><span>Hackman's estate asks court to block release of death investigation records</span></strong></a><strong><span></span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Traders have grown increasingly concerned that Trump's policies could inflict serious damage on the economy. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Despite Trump's insistence that stocks are falling because of the inflationary problems inherited from former President Joe Biden, the market had boomed after Trump's November election in hopes that his promised tax cuts and deregulation would fuel another economic boom.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But Trump in the months before he took office began threatening massive tariffs on America's biggest trading partners. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Dow, which was near its record high when Trump started posting messages on Truth Social about tariffs on November 25, hit one more record high a week later but has fallen nearly 10 per cent since. Russell 2000 never recovered.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"This market is just blatantly sick and tired of the back and forth on trade policy," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth Management. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It feels as though the administration continues to move the goal posts. With that much uncertainty, it's impossible for investors to have any confidence."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Meanwhile, problems are growing for the economy, and Trump's policies could exacerbate them. On Friday, a University of Michigan consumer sentiment report plunged to its lowest level since the height of the inflation crisis in 2022. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Consumer confidence in February registered its biggest monthly decline since August 2021 and fell the most in the first two months of any year since 2009, according to the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Consumers aren't spending as much as they used to, as concerns about the economy weigh on their purchasing decisions. Target, Walmart, Delta Air Lines, Dick's Sporting Goods, Dollar General and Kohl's said in their most recent earnings reports that tariffs and inflation are leading people to spend less.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump acknowledged tariffs could cause a "disturbance" and has declined to rule out a recession, saying his economic plan could be painful for some at first.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mainstream economists, however, believe Trump may be underplaying how damaging his policies could be. Uncertainty about tariffs is paralysing businesses who are unsure whether to hire and invest. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mass layoffs of federal workers could seriously damage local economies. And immigration crackdowns could badly hurt the already labour-sapped health care, construction and agriculture industries.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>JPMorgan economists alarmingly wrote last week that the US economy now has a 40 per cent chance of falling into a recession this year. That's up from 30 per cent forecast by JPMorgan at the start of the year. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The bank cited a "less business-friendly stance" from US policy, including a more aggressive trade war than feared, as well as "aggressive efforts" by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to slash federal hiring and spending.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We see a material risk that the US falls into recession this year owing to extreme US policies," JPMorgan economists wrote in a note to clients last Friday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h2><span>Suddenly ignoring the market</span></h2></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Trump has been noticeably quiet about stocks lately. During his first term he routinely tweeted about market records as a sign of America's economic might.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Visiting the New York Stock Exchange as recently as December 12, Trump called the stock market "very important" in an interview with CNBC.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The stock market is very — all of it, you know, all of it together, it's very important," Trump said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I sort of joked that I actually bought the building across the street because the stock exchange was here. It's a big deal."</span></div></div><div class="styles__Wrapper-sc-2o34ro-0 cmwkBV"><div class="styles__Column-sc-2o34ro-3 jJDKrX"><a href="/content/2025/03/11/16/41/donald-trump-billionaires-lost-money-supporters-in-pictures"><img alt="Guests including Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk, arrive before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 636px, (min-width: 768px) 396px, 100vw" src="https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/hH_9HUsYX7dlj6gTq5XRvApWp80=/0x0:6215x3495/396x223/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Fd0992c21-e070-40e4-9ae7-852a286590b9" srcset="https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/hH_9HUsYX7dlj6gTq5XRvApWp80=/0x0:6215x3495/396x223/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Fd0992c21-e070-40e4-9ae7-852a286590b9 396w, https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/3QFl8nd09HtmSNA7zcq4bN3jwBI=/0x0:6215x3495/636x358/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Fd0992c21-e070-40e4-9ae7-852a286590b9 636w"/></a></div><div class="styles__Column-sc-2o34ro-3 jJDKrX"><div class="styles__Headline-sc-2o34ro-4 hpbOlz">They threw it all behind Trump - and lost more than $300 billion</div><div class="styles__Button-sc-2o34ro-1 eBjlmW"><a class="styles__ButtonLink-sc-2o34ro-2 hqpklJ" href="/content/2025/03/11/16/41/donald-trump-billionaires-lost-money-supporters-in-pictures">View Gallery</a></div></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But he has changed his tune as stocks first erased their post-inauguration gains and then their post-election gains.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"You can't really watch the stock market," Trump said Sunday in an interview with Fox.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Markets are going to go up and they're going to go down," he said in the Oval Office Tuesday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I think a lot of the stock market going down was because of the really bad four years that we had, when you look at inflation and all of the other problems, I mean wars and inflation and so many other problems," Trump said Wednesday at the White House.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But Wall Street doesn't like being ignored – it's trying to send the president a message. And it's a painful one.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Tumbling markets can pose a problem in and of themselves. Seeing markets in the red can sap consumers' confidence, because many Americans incorrectly believe the Dow Jones serves as a barometer for the health of the US economy. But many people also rely on stocks for their retirement funds, and watching stocks sink sharply gives them pause about their financial position.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Obviously the stock market can have a significant negative wealth effect if it continues to take a dive," Yardeni said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Trump is going to have to rethink his notion that it's okay to let the market go down while he is experimenting with tariffs and slashing federal payrolls."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Investors feel Trump has turned his back on them. Now they are turning their back on him.</span></div></div>