Stocks fall; White House says report of pause in tariffs inaccurate

NEW YORK: Major stock indexes were down but off the lows of the day in choppy trading on Monday as the White House denied a report that US President Donald Trump is considering a 90-day pause in tariffs for all countries except China. The US dollar was higher.

Wall Street indexes started the day sharply lower but reversed course after a report that White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said in an interview that Trump was considering the 90-day tariff pause.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 469.46 points, or 1.23 per cent, to 37,845.40, the S&P 500 fell 28.89 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 5,046.66 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.62 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 15,584.16.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 12.42 points, or 1.63 per cent, to 751.87. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 2.58 per cent.

Earlier the S&P 500 had been on pace to confirm a bear market amid concern Trump was showing no sign of backing away from his sweeping tariff plans.

Traders bet the increasing risk of recession could result in the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates as early as May. Futures markets moved to price in almost five quarter-point cuts in US rates this year.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.72 per cent to 103.34, with the euro down 0.36 per cent at $1.0919.

Wall Street set for heavy losses, S&P 500 nears bear territory

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.48 per cent to 147.64.