Ammon News - Concerns about inflation and weak consumer sentiment dragged down the stock market on Friday, as Wall Street keeps struggling to assess the path forward for the U.S. economy with the full impact of President Trump’s tariffs looming.

The S&P 500 tumbled 2 percent, marking one of its worst days since Mr. Trump’s election. The drop extended modest declines from earlier in the day, after the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure came in hotter than economists had expected, intensifying worries about price pressures.

The downturn on Friday pulled the S&P 500 to its fifth weekly loss in the past six weeks. March is on track to be the stock market’s worst month since September 2022; waves of selling in recent weeks at one point left the S&P 500 more than 10 percent below its Feb. 19 peak, a downturn considered a market “correction.” Wall Street sentiment has been dampened by concerns that President Trump’s tariffs and a trade war could push prices sharply higher, discourage consumers and force the economy toward a recession. NY times