Tariff Uncertainty Roils Wall Street, Dollar Suffers A Blow, Bitcoin Slips Despite US Strategic Reserve: This Week In Markets

Concerns over trade tariffs continue to rattle financial markets, fueling economic uncertainty and sparking heightened volatility across asset classes.

President Donald Trump initially proposed a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada starting from Tuesday, but later excluded automobiles before ultimately deciding to postpone all tariffs covered under the North American trade agreement until April 2.

The U.S. dollar suffered heavy losses, with the Dollar Index posting its steepest weekly decline since November 2022, effectively wiping out gains made following Trump’s election victory.

Wall Street extended its losing streak to three consecutive weeks, with the Nasdaq 100 sliding into correction territory after tumbling more than 10% from its peak. The S&P 500 also gave up all gains accumulated post-Trump election.

Energy and financial stocks led the decline, as investors trimmed their growth forecasts for the U.S. economy in response to trade uncertainty and weaker economic data.

Fresh estimates from the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model suggest that real GDP growth for the first quarter of 2025 could shrink by 2.4% annualized. 

Market expectations for Federal Reserve policy have also shifted significantly. Just a month ago, traders priced in only one rate cut by year-end, but now three cuts are fully anticipated.

On the labor market front, the pace of job creation stood at 151,000 in February, up from 125,000 in January but slightly below forecasts of 160,000. The unemployment rate edged up from 4% to 4.1%, slightly above forecasts of an unchanged reading.

Wage growth also showed signs of slowing, with average hourly earnings rising 0.3% month-over-month, down from January’s 0.4% increase.

Bitcoin prices softened despite a major policy move from the White House. Trump signed an executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, aimed at leveraging seized digital assets for government use.

David Sacks, the White House’s crypto and AI policy leader revealed the reserve would be entirely funded using Bitcoin confiscated from illicit activities through criminal or civil asset forfeiture cases, meaning it wouldn’t impose any direct financial cost on taxpayers. 

Shares of major Michigan-based automakers rebounded as Trump postponed tariffs on Mexican imports, giving Ford Motor Co. F, General Motors Co GM, and Stellantis NV STLA short-term relief, though long-term uncertainty persists.

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.