LIVE MARKETS-A one-day blip? Wall Street ends on sour note

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A ONE-DAY BLIP? WALL STREET ENDS ON SOUR NOTE

Shares on Wall Street nosedived again on Thursday, a day after a blistering rally that saw the major stock indexes hit significant milestones. Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors ended down sharply, with the energy index .SPNY falling the most.

The euphoria from President Donald Trump's 90-day tariff reprieve on Wednesday gave way to caution and more anxiety as investors fretted about the escalating trade war with China, one of the largest U.S. trading partners. U.S. tariffs on imported Chinese goods now total 145%, a White House official told CNBC on Thursday.

Investors also pondered the future: what happens after the 90-day pause? That uncertainty is driving investors to stay cautious, and most importantly liquid, as they sold their equity holdings.

"This is bonkers. I think a lot of retail clients, talking to their advisors after this latest downturn, are saying, just get me out of the way of this landslide and we can come back later," says Jim Carroll, senior wealth advisor & portfolio manager, at Ballast Rock Private Wealth in Charleston, South Carolina.

"What they're feeling is an unusual degree of anxiety. In many ways this is different even than Trump 1.0 and it feels that it could be more serious. We're backing China up against a wall. What's going to happen next? It frightens people."

Not even a better-than-expected U.S. inflation report that showed U.S. consumer prices unexpectedly falling in March helped ease heavy stock losses. Analysts were not surprised at all that stocks showed little reaction to the CPI report. After all, it is a backward-looking indicator and the market knows all too well that inflation will rise with the tariffs.

Here's the closing market snapshot:

(Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Suzanne McGee)

FOR THURSDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:

US ECONOMY MORE LIKE AN EMERGING MARKET -LOOMIS SAYLES PORTFOLIO MANAGER - CLICK HERE

S&P 500 PRETTY WASHED OUT, BUT CHART HURDLES TOUGH TO CLEAR - CLICK HERE

CUT THE TARIFF NOISE; US CONSUMERS STILL SPENDING - CLICK HERE

COOL CPI, LOW JOBLESS CLAIMS LOST IN THE FOG OF ONGOING TRADE WARS - CLICK HERE

WALL STREET REVERSES AFTER MASSIVE TARIFF-PAUSE RALLY - CLICK HERE

U.S. STOCK FUTURES STILL RED AFTER COOLER-THAN-EXPECTED CPI - CLICK HERE

EARNINGS SEASON "MARKET'S MOMENT OF TRUTH" - SAXO - CLICK HERE

WILL THE "BUY EUROPE" TRADE RAISE ITS HEAD? - CLICK HERE

MARKET WATCHERS MULL RALLY'S LONGEVITY - CLICK HERE

EUPHORIC MARKETS - CLICK HERE

BEFORE THE BELL: BOUNCING LIKE IN COVID TIMES - CLICK HERE

SIGNS OF TROUBLE IN THE RELIEF RALLY - CLICK HERE