Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on March 19, 2025.
Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images
U.S. stocks fell Friday, putting the S&P 500 on pace to extend its rout since late February caused by trade policy turmoil, recession fears and a rollover in megacap technology shares.
The S&P 500 shed 0.4%, putting the index on track for its first five-week losing streak in more than two years. The Nasdaq Composite pulled back 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 302 points, or 0.7%.
Traders had prepped for a likely volatile session on Friday with a so-called “quadruple witching” – when stock options, index futures options and single-stock futures expire. Goldman estimates that more than $4.7 trillion of notional options exposure will expire.
The day’s losses pushed the S&P 500 into negative territory on the week. It briefly fell into correction territory at one point during its monthlong rout, and it now sits more than 8% from its record high, short of the 10% correction level, as it tried to mount a comeback from the turmoil.
The benchmark looked to rebound on Wednesday, when Federal Reserve policymakers kept their forecast for two rate cuts in 2025. But the rebound proved short-lived as the market fell Thursday and Friday.
“Markets are just more risk-averse now,” said Rob Williams, chief investment strategist at Sage Advisory. “You always get some technical bounces, but you’re probably in for some more pain.”
“We haven’t even felt the full impact of tariffs, because they’re still messing around with negotiating them,” he continued, adding that “maybe we’re going to get closer than we thought” to a recession.
President Donald Trump’s April 2 tariff deadline is looming over the market. Tariff worries are also weighing on companies, according to Michael Green, chief strategist at Simplify Asset Management.
“Companies are increasingly citing confusion and uncertainty around their planning and capital spending and hiring decisions — and when they pause, it means that they’re slowing down,” he said. “There’s an element of that playing out in the markets.”
Two economic bellwethers were leading the way lower on Friday. FedEx was down 9% after it cut its earnings outlook, citing “weakness and uncertainty in the U.S. industrial economy.” Nike shares were off by about 7% after the shoe and apparel giant said sales this quarter would miss analysts’ expectations because of tariffs and falling consumer confidence.
