US Stocks tumbled on Thursday, registering their biggest daily percentage drops since Covid pandemic in 2020 as US President Donald Trump’s sweeping trade tariffs sparked fears of a global recession. The Nasdaq Composite Index led declines on Wall Street, plunging almost six percent, its largest daily loss since March 2020. The S&P 500 shed over 4.8 percent, with more than 400 of its 500 constituents posting losses, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell almost 4 percent. Both indices posted their biggest daily percentage declines since June 2020.

On Wall Street, the biggest drags were from highly valued megacap stocks. Apple slumped over 9 percent, hit by the tariffs on China, the base for much of its manufacturing, while artificial intelligence chip leader Nvidia dipped nearly 8 percent. Shares of US banks dropped to multi-month lows on fears that tariffs would result in a recession and a slowdown in consumer spending that could hurt earnings.