The New York Stock Exchange closed mixed, two days before U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement on reciprocal tariffs. Early on, there was strong selling of technology stocks; however, value buying emerged, particularly in blue-chip stocks.
On the 31st (Eastern Time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 42,001.76, up 417.86 points (1.00%) from the previous session on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index rose 30.91 points (0.55%) to 5,611.85, while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 23.70 points (0.14%) to 17,299.29.
On this day, uncertainty over tariffs shook the market. White House Spokesperson Caroline Levitt noted that President Trump plans to announce country-specific reciprocal tariffs on the 2nd of next month. Furthermore, a 25% tariff on all vehicles produced outside of the U.S. will take effect starting from the 3rd of next month.
Meanwhile, the stock price of the leading consumer goods company Walmart rose more than 3%, leading the Dow's increase; however, technology stocks failed to break free from weakness. Among the seven stocks in the large tech group 'Magnificent Seven' (M7), five stocks including Nvidia (1.18%), Microsoft (0.9%), Tesla (1.67%), Amazon (1.28%), and Facebook's parent Meta (0.07%) saw declines, with only Apple (1.94%) and Google's parent Alphabet (0.2%) recording increases.
The stock price of Nvidia, which led the New York market last year, has fallen more than 20% this year so far. The closing price on this day was $108.38, approximately 30% lower than in January. Tesla's stock exhibited weakness a day before announcing first-quarter vehicle delivery results, and Amazon continued its downward trend after an eight-week decline that lasted until last week.
GM, the largest automaker in the U.S. hit hardest by the automobile tariff, rebounded 0.75% after three consecutive days of decline. Ford rose 3.19%, while Stellantis fell 1.15%.
By sector, among the 11 sectors comprising the S&P 500, 10 sectors rose, while only consumer discretionary fell.
Jay Woods, chief global strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, said, 'Investors showed a tendency to sell first and wait,' adding, 'It had all the elements of panic selling, which could lead to a rapid rebound rally.'
Meanwhile, the Volatility Index (VIX), compiled by the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), stood at 22.28, up 0.63 points (2.91%) compared to the previous session.