Concerns about tariffs and recession are rising, U.S. stocks and cryptocurrency markets are both affected
On February 26, news from 4E monitoring indicated that U.S. consumer confidence performed poorly in February, with the monthly decline reaching the worst level in over three years. Meanwhile, Trump stated that after a grace period, comprehensive tariffs will be imposed on imports from Canada and Mexico. These two factors combined have sharply heightened market concerns about tariffs and economic recession.
As a result, U.S. stocks showed more declines than gains on Tuesday. The Dow Jones closed up 0.37%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.47%, and the Nasdaq dropped by 1.35%. Most large tech stocks fell, with Tesla suffering a heavy blow, its market value dropping below $1 trillion, down over 8.39%, and Nvidia followed closely behind, down 2.8%. A Goldman Sachs report pointed out that hedge funds are exiting U.S. tech and media stocks at the fastest pace in six months, with the seven tech giants entering a technical correction zone.
The cryptocurrency market has taken the lead, experiencing a downturn yesterday. Bitcoin once fell to $86,050, and Ethereum dropped to a low of $2,313. The meme market has cooled, combined with a large number of tokens about to be unlocked, SOL showed the most significant decline, dropping nearly 50% in the past month. Bitcoin spot ETF saw a net outflow of $774 million yesterday, marking six consecutive days of net outflows. Since February, the cryptocurrency market has remained sluggish, starting this week with a substantial drop, and the fear and greed index has fallen to 21, the lowest level since September of last year.
The foreign exchange and commodity markets also showed significant volatility. Consumer confidence data pressured the dollar, with the dollar index falling 0.2%, close to the two-month low reached on Monday; due to market concerns about oil demand prospects and potential peace negotiations in Russia, oil prices fell over 2%; after hitting a new high, investors took profits, and spot gold fell over 1.2%.
A series of recent weak data suggest that the U.S. economy may be entering a recession, with the S&P and Nasdaq having fallen for four consecutive days, further intensifying market concerns about declining consumer confidence and the impact of tariff policies on the economy. Traders are generally cautious, awaiting more economic data and policy guidance.
