Apr 1, 2025 - Business
Trump fears sank stocks in the first quarter
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Tariff uncertainty and recession fears just drove U.S. stocks to one of their worst quarters in years.
Why it matters: A sharp decline in stocks used to be enough to get President Trump to change his policy positions — but these are different times.
By the numbers: The S&P 500 ended the first quarter down 4.6%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 10.4% and the broad Russell 3000 fell 5%.
- It was the worst performance since mid-2022 for all three.
The intrigue: U.S. stocks badly underperformed the world to start the year.
- The MSCI World ex USA Index, which tracks all the world's large developed markets other than the U.S., rose 5.5% in the quarter.
