Wall Street slides to start September as tariff news generates uncertainty

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narvikk

Wall Street stumbles on Tuesday, opening the historically challenging month on a weak note as renewed tariff concerns weigh on investor sentiment all while payrolls data lurks later this week.

Falling the most has been the tech focused Nasdaq Composite (COMP:IND [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/COMP:IND]) which has handed back 1.1%. Also, the benchmark S&P 500 (SP500 [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SP500]) has moved lower by 1%, and the blue-chip Dow (DJI [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/DJI]) has slid 0.8%.

From a sector-by-sector vantage point, ten of the 11 S&P segments are down in the red as Info Tech and Industrials suffer the most. At the other end of the spectrum, Energy has been the strongest area on the day with oil (CL1:COM [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CL1:COM]) higher by 0.4%.

Over in the bond market, the longer-end U.S. 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US10Y]) had moved up 3 basis points to 4.26%, and the shorter-end U.S. 2-year Treasury yield (US2Y [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US2Y]) has moved higher by 2 basis points to 3.64%.

Highlighting the market’s struggles is Wall Street's fear gauge—the VIX volatility index hit a four-week high [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4491116-vix-surges-to-one-month-high-as-investors-eye-tariffs-and-brace-for-payrolls-data].

A U.S. appeals court ruled late Friday that most [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4490613-federal-appeals-court-strikes-down-most-of-trumps-tariffs] of President Donald Trump's tariffs are illegal, determining the president exceeded his authority in his use of emergency powers to rewrite U.S. trade policy. However, the tariffs were allowed to stay in place for now while the case was sent back to a lower court for further proceedings.

However, the Trump administration is said to be pushing forward [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4490697-trump-administration-presses-ahead-with-trade-talks-despite-court-ruling] with trade negotiations even after the ruling, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Sunday.

Wall Street is coming off a holiday on September 1 on account of Labor Day.

"Trump is to deliver an Oval Office statement today. There are a number of topics the president may choose to address and a number of directions that may be taken on each of those topics. Uncertainty about policy has economic consequences—relevant as markets consider the next employment report on Friday," UBS' Paul Donovan said.

On the economic side, the U.S. Manufacturing PMI [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4491201-ism-manufacturing-rises-less-than-expected-in-august-as-production-ebbs] increased to 48.7 in August from 48.0 in July, but missed the 49.0 consensus.

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