US stocks whipsawed on Monday, spending time on both sides of the flatline in a chaotic trading session that has seen multiple headlines push around a jumpy market as impacts from President Trump's reciprocal tariff announcements continue to puzzle investors.
Near 11:45 a.m. ET on Monday, the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) was down 1.4% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC ) was down 1.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI ) dropped 700 points, or 1.9%, after briefly moving into positive territory.
Shortly after 11 a.m. ET, Trump threatened China with an additional 50% tariff starting on April 9 if Beijing did not remove 34% levies on US imports announced last week after the President's sweeping tariffs plans were revealed on April 2.
Stocks briefly turned green earlier in the session after speculation Trump was considering a 90-day pause to implementing tariffs on Wednesday, fueled by a comment attributed to an economic advisor.
But a White House-linked social media account subsequently called the headline "fake news ," sending stocks back into red territory before they rebounded again.
Monday's volatile trade comes on the heels of a two-day sell-off of epic proportions, with the Nasdaq Composite entering a bear market on Friday and the US stock market shedding over $5 trillion in value to post its worst week since 2020.
Over the weekend, Trump signaled that he won't change up his trade policy to relieve markets. Responding to a reporter's question on Sunday, he said: "Sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something."
Read more: Live updates on Trump tariffs fallout
China has already announced retaliatory tariffs, and the EU is readying countermeasures . The US's new baseline 10% duties on most trading partners went into effect over the weekend, and additional tariffs on so-called " bad actors " are set to be implemented from Wednesday.
Investors were also weighing Jamie Dimon's belief that new tariffs won't cause a recession , even as the JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) CEO warned on Monday of a hit to US growth and inflation.
Markets in Asia and Europe retreated sharply on Monday as investors became increasingly concerned that Trump might not negotiate on his sweeping tariff hikes, risking widespread economic slowdown. J
apan's benchmark Nikkei 225 ( ^N225 ) slid into a bear market , as did the Hang Seng ( ^HSI ) in Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, oil prices traded nearly 3% lower, having tumbled about 4% overnight to below $60 per barrel for the first time since 2021.
LIVE 25 updates