Dow sinks 650 points, S&P 500 wipes out post-election gains as Trump trade war intensifies #CanadaFinance

US markets have eliminated all their post-election gains as stocks deepen their sell-off with fresh tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China now officially in effect.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) has erased about $3.3 trillion in market cap since its record closing high of 6,144.15 on Feb. 19. At that time, the benchmark index’s post-election gains had been hovering at just around 6%.

Since the start of 2025, the S&P 500 is down around 2% while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) is off nearly 6% and is currently flirting with correction territory, on track to close 10% off its record high. The blue-chip Dow (^DJI) is trading just barely in the green for the year.

Only a few months ago, stocks traded at consistent records as Donald Trump’s presidential win fueled bullish Wall Street euphoria on hopes of pro-business policies and lower taxes.

Flash forward to today, and that euphoria has all but evaporated as Trump’s tariffs spark growth fears while inflation remains stubbornly elevated.

“Many of the key trends in financial markets in the run-up to and immediate aftermath of the US election last November have stalled or partly reversed since President Trump took office last month,” Jonas Goltermann, deputy chief markets economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note last week.

“Since then, US Treasury yields have dropped back, the 2-10s curve has flattened, US equities have struggled both in absolute terms and relative to those elsewhere, and the dollar has dropped back,” he said. “In other words, the ‘Trump trade’ narrative that dominated many markets in Q4 is floundering.”