Wall Street Tumbles Over 1% on Trump Tariff Volatility; Airlines Plunge Amid Northeast Snowstorm

U.S. stock markets plunged Wednesday amid turmoil following the Supreme Court's ruling invalidating reciprocal tariffs and President Trump's subsequent imposition of 10% and 15% global tariffs. Fears that artificial intelligence will disrupt the software industry continued to weigh on share prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 821.91 points, or 1.66%, to close at 48,804.06 on the New York Stock Exchange. The S&P 500 declined 71.76 points, or 1.04%, to 6,837.75, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 258.80 points, or 1.13%, to 22,627.27.

Among major technology stocks by market capitalization, Microsoft fell 3.21%, Amazon dropped 2.30%, Alphabet declined 1.11%, Meta fell 2.81%, Broadcom lost 0.69%, and Tesla slid 2.91%. Nvidia rose 0.91%, Apple gained 0.60%, and Walmart climbed 2.29%.

Markets opened lower following the Supreme Court's reciprocal tariff ruling and Trump's global tariff increases. After the court ruled reciprocal tariffs unlawful on the 20th, Trump immediately signed an executive order imposing 10% global tariffs on all countries under Section 122 of the Trade Act. The following day, he announced an increase to 15%, heightening tariff uncertainty.

Trump warned on his social network Truth Social: "If any country wants to play games with this ridiculous Supreme Court decision, if they have ripped off the United States for years or decades, they will face higher tariffs and stronger measures than recently agreed."

Novo Nordisk plunged 16.43% after clinical trial results showed its next-generation obesity drug underperformed compared to rival Eli Lilly's product. Eli Lilly shares rose 4.86%.

Airline stocks weakened as massive snowfall in the northeastern United States forced widespread flight cancellations. Delta Air Lines fell 3.69%, United Airlines dropped 5.81%, and American Airlines declined 4.86%.

Cybersecurity stocks and IBM suffered losses amid growing concerns that Anthropic's AI tool "Claude" could disrupt the software industry. CrowdStrike fell 9.85%, Zscaler dropped 10.31%, Netskope plunged 12.06%, SailPoint declined 9.37%, and Okta lost 6.43%. IBM tumbled 13.15%—its largest single-day drop since October 2000—after Anthropic stated that "Claude Code can automate structural analysis and documentation of COBOL code used in IBM systems."

Private equity firms that extended credit to various software companies also continued their decline. KKR fell 8.89%, Blackstone dropped 6.23%, and Apollo Global Management lost 5.00%. Financial stocks were similarly hit, with Visa down 4.50%, Mastercard falling 5.77%, and American Express dropping 7.20%.

Oil prices fell on reports of skepticism within the U.S. military regarding airstrikes on Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery declined $0.17, or 0.26%, to $66.31 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. According to The Wall Street Journal, Pentagon leadership conveyed skepticism to President Trump about long-term military operations against Iran.