Stocks declined further on Tuesday as President Donald Trump's recent comments on global trade deals impacted investor sentiment ahead of the Federal Reserve's next policy decision. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 390 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite lost about 0.8% and 0.9%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Tuesday:
S&P 500 Index
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Nasdaq Composite Index
Trump said Tuesday during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that he has not met with Chinese officials to negotiate a trade deal, telling reporters that "we will meet with them at the right time."
"We don't have to sign deals, they have to sign deals with us. They want a piece of our market. We don't want a piece of their market," Trump added, challenging the White House's recent narrative from that bilateral trade talks were in progress with many countries. Trump himself has recently hinted at coming trade deals as soon as this week with nations including India, South Korea and Japan.
However, Trump appeared to be frustrated by pressure to make deals on Tuesday, stating that he wished reporters would "stop asking, 'how many deals are you signing this week?'" adding that "one day we'll come and we'll give you 100 deals."
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified before congressional lawmakers on Tuesday that trade deal talks with China have yet to begin, but said that the Trump administration is negotiating with 17 major trading partners and expects to reach trade deals by the end of the year.
"Approximately 97 or 98% of our trade deficit is with 15 countries -- 18% of the countries are our major trading partners," Bessent testified before the House Committee on Appropriations. "I would be surprised that if we don't have more than 80 or 90% of those [negotiations] wrapped up by the end of the year, and that may be much sooner."
The Federal Reserve kicked off its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday, with policymakers widely expected to hold interest rates at their current levels on Wednesday. Wall Street could be impacted by post-meeting remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell slated for Wednesday afternoon, as market participants look for more clarity on the health of the U.S. economy amid Trump's trade policies.
Deutsche Bank Macro Strategist Henry Allen wrote in a note on Tuesday that the market's current moves are mirroring the behavior Wall Street saw last summer.
"Back then, the data deteriorated sharply, and markets were briefly in turmoil as investors genuinely feared whether the U.s. might head into a downturn ... but, as it became clear a recession would be avoided and the data wasn't contractionary, markets recovered very quickly," Allen wrote. "Many of those parallels have been playing out again today."
On the Earnings Front:
Palantir Technologies
CEO Alex Karp told analysts during the company's earnings call late Monday that he is "very optimistic," about the company's current conditions, adding that "the reality of what's going on is that this is an unvarnished cacophony -- the combination of 20 years of investment and a massive cultural shift in the U.S. which is generating numbers."
Ford Motor
Ford, however, did top first-quarter earnings and revenue expectations.
"Our results in the first quarter show that the Ford+ [turnaround] plan is working," CFO Sherry House told reporters during the company's call. "We are transforming this company into a higher growth, higher margin, more capital efficient and more durable business."
Looking Ahead:
Investors will be trading ahead of the Fed's policy decision set to be delivered in the afternoon on Wednesday. Major earnings reports for the session include Advanced Micro Devices
