New York Stock Market Stagflation Concerns, Nasdaq Plummets 2.7%

The New York stock market plunged amid controversy over the tariff policy of the Donald Trump administration, as concerns about inflation and economic recession grew.

On the 28th (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 41,583.90, down 715.80 points (-1.69%) from the previous session.

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The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index closed at 5,580.94, down 112.37 points (-1.97%) from the previous session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index ended trading at 17,322.99, down 481.04 points (-2.70%) from the previous session. The S&P 500 recorded its largest drop since February 10 (-2.7%) and the second-largest daily decline since President Trump took office in January.

In particular, the February core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index rose 2.8% year-on-year and 0.4% month-on-month, exceeding expectations. The February real personal consumption expenditure growth rate remained at 0.1% month-on-month (nominal growth rate 0.4%), which heightened concerns about inflation and slowing consumption.

In this situation, the decline of major tech stocks such as Meta and Amazon was evaluated to have exerted considerable downward pressure on the market. On the day, the 'Magnificent 7' stocks?Tesla (-3.53%), Nvidia (-1.58%), Meta (-4.29%), Amazon (-4.33%), Microsoft (-3.02%), Alphabet (-4.88%), and Apple (-2.68%)?all plunged simultaneously.

CoreWeave, an artificial intelligence (AI) company regarded as the biggest IPO in the U.S. market since 2021 and highly anticipated, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on the day but failed to attract enthusiasm, barely maintaining its public offering price of $40 at closing.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) Volatility Index (VIX), known as the 'fear index,' rose 2.96 points to 21.65 from the previous trading day, climbing back above the 20 level.

Despite inflation concerns, fears of an economic recession became more prominent, causing U.S. Treasury yields to fall. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield dropped sharply by 11 basis points (1 bp = 0.01 percentage points) to 4.26% near the close of the New York stock market on the day compared to the same time the previous day.