(NEW YORK) — U.S. stocks stood essentially unchanged in trading on Wednesday hours before President Donald Trump’s expected announcement of sweeping tariffs, which the White House has dubbed “Liberation Day.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 7points, or 0.02%, while the S&P 500 climbed 0.05%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 0.02%.
Tesla, the electric carmaker led by billionaire Trump-advisor Elon Musk, fell nearly 2%. The stock decline came minutes after the company reported a 13% drop in car deliveries over the past three months compared to the same period a year ago.
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ both posted their first quarterly losses since 2022 this week as investors prepared for the new measures and economists warned of the possibility of a recession — with major potential knock-on effects for other economies around the globe.
Canada vowed Tuesday to respond with retaliatory tariffs if Trump slaps additional levies on Canadian goods.
Europe has a “strong plan” to retaliate against Trump’s planned tariffs, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said in a speech on Tuesday.
Trump is set to make his tariff announcement in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET, after the stock market closes.
Abroad, the British FTSE 100 index dropped by more than 0.6% on Wednesday morning, with Germany’s DAX index down by 1.2%. The French CAC 40 index was down more than 0.5%.
Japan’s Nikkei index rose nearly 0.3%, but South Korea’s KOSPI index dropped by more than 0.6%.
On Tuesday, the Dow Jones ended at 41,989.96 down 0.03%. The S&P 500 ended at 5,633.07 up 0.38% and the NASDAQ ended at 17,449.89 up 0.87%.
Automakers and pharmaceutical companies have reportedly been lobbying the Trump administration for carve outs and a phase-in approach for the promised tariffs.
World leaders have threatened a response while pressing the White House for clarity.
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