U.S. Stocks Move Sharply Lower Amid Renewed Tariff Uncertainty

(RTTNews) - Stocks have moved sharply lower during trading on Tuesday, extending the pullback seen during last Friday's session. The major averages have all moved to the downside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the way lower.

Currently, the major averages are well off their worst levels of the day but still firmly negative. The Nasdaq is down 303.52 points or 1.4 percent at 21,152.03, the S&P 500 is down 75.80 points or 1.2 percent at 6,384.46 and the Dow is down 417.32 points or 0.9 percent at 45,127.56.

The sell-off on Wall Street comes amid renewed trade uncertainty after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled most of President Donald Trump's global tariffs are illegal.

In a 7-4 decision, the appeals court ruled that the power to impose taxes such as tariffs is vested exclusively in the legislative branch by the Constitution.

However, the court delayed implementation of its order until October, giving the Trump administration time to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

"All tariffs are still in effect!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social. "If these tariffs ever went away, it would a total disaster for our country."

Treasury yields have surged in reaction to the ruling amid concerns the government may have to repay the billions of dollars already brought in through Trump's tariffs.

In U.S. economic news, the Institute for Supply Management released a report showing a slight increase by its reading on U.S. manufacturing activity in the month of August, although the index still indicated the sixth consecutive month of contraction.

While the ISM said its manufacturing PMI inched up to 48.7 in August after falling to a nine-month low of 48.0 in July, a reading below 50 still indicates contraction. The uptick matched economist estimates.

Sector News

Semiconductor stocks are turning in some of the market's worst performances on the day, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index tumbling by 2.2 percent.

Considerable weakness is also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 2.0 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Steel Index.

Banking stocks have also shown a significant move to the downside, dragging the KBW Bank Index down by 1.7 percent. The index ended last Friday's trading at a record closing high.

Computer hardware, brokerage and commercial real estate stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while gold and biotechnology stocks are bucking the downtrend.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.3 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index is down by 1.9 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.6 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.5 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have climbed well off their worst levels of the day but continue to see notable weakness. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 4.3 basis points at 4.269 percent.