S&P 500 hits low of session, down 1% ahead of new auto tariff announcement: Live updates

Stocks dipped on Wednesday, led lower by tech, as pressure on the tariff front mounted.

The S&P 500 lost 1.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 205 points lower, or 0.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed about 2%, as Nvidia shares dropped more than 6%. Other major tech names such as Meta, Amazon and Alphabet lost more than 2% each, while Tesla slid more than 5.5%.

Stocks hit session lows after the White House said that President Donald Trump will unveil new tariffs on auto imports during a press conference at 4 p.m. ET. General Motors and Ford shares each dropped more than 1%, while Stellantis was down more than 2%.

This will come ahead of a broad array of additional levies expected to be revealed next week. Trump on Tuesday said that these tariffs will likely be more “lenient than reciprocal,” reflecting a softened stance that added onto reports from earlier this week that the duties could be more narrow in scope and that sector-specific tariffs are expected to be delayed.

Worries over the impact of protectionist trade policies have weighed on equities recently. The S&P 500 dipped into correction territory earlier this month, briefly dipping more than 10% from a record high set in February.

Wall Street is coming off a winning session, with the S&P 500 on Tuesday posting its third straight advance.

Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide, noted that the market appears to be stabilizing as the S&P 500 has gained 5% in eight sessions, recovering almost half of what it lost over the previous month.

“The emotion of the market is calming following a tumultuous period … the collapse of technical indicators accompanying the recent market correction is showing signs of recovery,” Hackett said.