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NASDAQ CONFIRMS CORRECTION IN WALL STREET'S "NIGHTMARE ON TARIFF STREET," THE SEQUEL

Wall Street plummeted on Thursday as investors grew weary of President Trump's multi-front game of tariff chicken, and the cycle of threatening, issuing then pausing crippling duties on imports from the United State's biggest trading partners.

All three major indexes closed sharply lower, with the Dow .DJI and the S&P 500 .SPX losing 1.0% and 1.8%, respectively.

But the Nasdaq .IXIC suffered the worst of it, tumbling 2.6%, which put it 10.4% below its all-time closing high, confirming the tech-loaded index began a correction since it reached that high on December 16.

The biggest losers on the day include chips .SOX, off 4.5%, consumer discretionary .SPLRCD down 2.9%, and tech .SPLRCT, which lost 2.7%.

The FANG group of tech-related stocks .NYFANG shed 4.1%.

Every single stock in the "magnificent 7" AI-adjacent megacaps ended in the red, with Tesla TSLA.O, Nvidia NVDA.O and Meta Platforms META.O sliding between 4.4% and 5.7%.

"The Trump bump for equities has now turned into the Trump slump," says Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera Investment Management. "Equity markets continue to be in a risk-off mentality on the combination of market uncertainty and the overall mixed messages around tariffs emanating from Washington."

Market participants appear to have no bid for the daily barrage of policy reversals. Once again Trump issued a second round of delays on tariffs that went into effect just two days ago.

On the economic front, spiking federal jobless claims - the result of billionaire Elon Musk's DOGE-related mass layoffs - a 245% surge in planned layoffs, and the widest international trade gap ever also helped put a damper on investor risk appetite.

On Friday, the Labor Department is due to release its February employment report, which is expected to show the U.S. economy added 160,000 jobs in the second month of 2025, with the unemployment rate standing pat at 4.0%.

Here's your closing snapshot:

(Stephen Culp, Sinead Carew)

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LUXURY: ARE WE OUT OF THE WOODS? - CLICK HERE

STOXX SLIPS DESPITE MODERATING TARIFF FEARS AND POSITIVE EARNINGS - CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: FUTURES UP AS TARIFF TENSIONS EASE - CLICK HERE

ECB'S LAST EASY DECISION - CLICK HERE