US equity indexes slumped after President Donald Trump warned the European Union of significant import duties on alcohol products and cooling producer prices failed to inspire confidence among investors.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.67% to 17,351.3, the S&P 500 was down 1.2% to 5,531.7, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 1.1% lower at 40,877.5. All sectors fell intraday, with communications services, consumer discretionary, and real estate leading the decliners.

Trump threatened to impose a 200% tariff on imports of European alcoholic products in response to retaliatory duties announced by the EU on Wednesday. The US administration's 25% global levies on steel and aluminum imports took effect that day.

Meanwhile, the US producer price index remained unchanged in February, compared with an upwardly revised 0.6% increase in January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday. The print lagged the 0.3% growth estimate in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. Year-over-year, overall producer prices were up 3.2% last month versus a 3.7% rise in January, trailing the 3.3% rate estimated by the Street.

"The details of the producer price report don't offer as encouraging a signal as the unchanged headline reading may suggest," Oxford Economics Senior US Economist Matthew Martin said in remarks emailed to MT Newswires. "The two most volatile components, energy and trade services, were major drags, whereas food prices continue to rise at a fast pace, and core goods registered its largest monthly increase since January 2023 -- even before the bulk of tariffs take effect."

US Treasury yields fell intraday, with the two-year yield down 1.7 basis points to 3.98%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures slid 1.2% to $66.89 a barrel.

Intel (INTC) appointed semiconductor industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan as its new chief executive, effective March 18. Tan, who previously served as CEO of Cadence Design Systems (CDNS), will succeed interim co-CEOs David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus. The chipmaker's shares surged 15% intraday, the top performer on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.