US Stocks Wipe Out $6.6 Trillion in Two Days—What Just Happened?Shoutout to the real MVPs of April: the traders who did absolutely nothing. You market wizards, zen masters of the sidelines — while others were busy buying the dip that kept on dipping, you outperformed the S&P 500 SP:SPX , avoiding the nastiest market faceplant since the Covid crash of March 2020.
Since April 2, Liquidation Day , Liberation Day , the S&P 500 SP:SPX has nosedived a brutal 10%. That’s officially a correction — the kind that makes you stare out your window like a philosopher, questioning your life choices, your portfolio, and whether you really needed that Nvidia NASDAQ:NVDA call.
This isn’t just a dip. It’s a market reality check served with extra salt. So raise a (half empty?) glass to the ones who stayed flat — you just made Warren Buffett proud . In a world of overtrading, doing nothing was the most alpha move of all.
Everyone who checked the market at least once on Thursday or Friday (even today when futures markets were all red ) knows what that is all about.
It’s Trump’s tariff rollout coming like a wrecking ball. While the US President portrays his efforts as a fair and even lenient response to other countries’ trade policies with the US, investors don't seem to think so.
In just two days, Thursday and Friday, the US stock market washed out $6.6 trillion. The violent selloff threw the Nasdaq Composite NASDAQ:IXIC into a bear market (down 20% from its peak) and the S&P 500 into correction territory. The broad-based Wall Street darling waved goodbye to 6% on Friday, extending its 4.8% loss from the previous day.
On Thursday, Trump unveiled his new plan to boost the US economy through reciprocal tariffs. China got hammered with a total of 54% , while Europe wasn’t spared either, slapped with a flat 20%.
Some uninhabited islands also made the list — Heard and McDonald Islands (Australia's icy outpost) and Jan Mayen (Norway's frozen Arctic rock) got served a 10% tariff.
Now, the thing with tariffs is, they tend to backfire. Because they are paid by the party receiving them, i.e. US companies, they hike the prices of imported goods, squeeze consumers, and isolate the country imposing them. They strain international trade relationships, disrupt supply chains, and — as history shows — often spark retaliation.
And that’s exactly what happened. On Friday, China hit back hard, launching a 34% tariff barrage on US imports — a sharp counter-strike against Trump’s escalating trade war tactics.
What did Trump say on the matter? “CHINA PLAYED IT WRONG, THEY PANICKED - THE ONE THING THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO DO!” he said on his social media platform.
Just as the markets were a dumpster fire on Friday, Federal Reserve boss Jay Powell gave a speech at a business journalists' conference. In his remarks, he said that Trump’s tariffs would cause “higher inflation and slower growth.”
“It is now becoming clear that the tariff increases will be significantly larger than expected. The same is likely to be true of the economic effects,” Powell said.
Trump's response?
“This would be a PERFECT time for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to cut Interest Rates. He is always ‘late,’ but he could now change his image, and quickly,” Trump wrote in a post. “Energy prices are down, Interest Rates are down, Inflation is down, even Eggs are down 69%, and Jobs are UP, all within two months - A BIG WIN for America. CUT INTEREST RATES, JEROME, AND STOP PLAYING POLITICS!”
So here we are — $6.6 trillion lighter, futures in free fall, inflation fears reignited, and a full-blown trade war back on the table. The Fed’s caught in a political crossfire, Trump’s turning up the heat, and markets are flashing every red light imaginable.
On top of it all, corporate earnings are just around the corner with the big banks on Wall Street kicking off the first-quarter reporting at the end of this week. Keep track of all big reports in the Earnings Calendar .
One thing’s for sure: this isn’t the time to trade on hope or headlines. It’s the time to trade with eyes wide open, risk tightly managed, and a clear understanding that your next move could shape the rest of your year. Most of all, don’t panic .
Off to you now: are you sitting this one out like Buffett — or are you moving in before the smoke clears?