TAMPA, Fla. – The stock market took a major hit this week, tumbling for the second consecutive day following President Donald Trump’s announcement of new tariffs.
Big picture view:
The Dow dropped a staggering 2,200 points, marking its biggest decline since the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020. As fears of a potential trade war spark concerns of an impending recession, many Americans are left questioning the future of their investments and 401(k)s.
READ: Nintendo delays Switch 2 pre-orders in US over tariffs, but June launch remains on track
What they’re saying:
Abby Hall, an economist and associate professor at The University of Tampa, described the situation as “absolute carnage in the markets right now.”
“This is not necessarily a brand new phenomenon,” said Hall. “This is not the first time that markets have seriously taken a downturn like this. However, this is very clearly tied to the recent policies of the current administration and then also in response to the news from China that they’re going to be levying retaliatory tariffs against the United States.”
FOX 13’s Political Editor Craig Patrick explained the broader impact: “When you have companies like Apple that are very reliant on Asian markets, they are going to take a disproportionate hit in the early go. Same with Amazon, and other companies that rely on products that they then resell to American consumers. But it’s going to be all companies within the United States.”
Hall outlined some things you should know:
“If you are somebody who is young, and you have a lot of time to allow your money to grow, counter-intuitively, this might be a very good time to invest while markets are down. That being said, it’s generally a bad idea to pull your money out of stock markets when they take a significant downturn, even though that might be the knee-jerk reaction,” she suggested.
For those nearing retirement, Hall stressed the importance of consulting a financial advisor.
“If you are somebody who is older, so you are someone who is either retired or getting ready to retire, and you are working on, say, maybe drawing down your active investments, then again, it is really important to reach out to a financial advisor to give you sound advice,” she said.
MORE: President Trump’s tariffs expected to hit wallets of Americans: Bay Area economist
The other side:
Despite the turmoil, the Trump administration maintains that the pain is temporary.
“The president and his administration have said there might be some short-term pain,” Patrick said, “but we don’t know what ‘short-term’ means, because there is a lot of uncertainty at this point.”
The Source: The information in this story was gathered during interviews with Abby Hall, an economist and associate professor at UTampa, and FOX 13’s Political Editor Craig Patrick.
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