Following President Donald Trump’s shutdown of fiscal stimulus talks, the stock market took a substantial hit with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 300 points.
Trump released a series of tweets, announcing that he had rejected a $2.4 trillion stimulus proposal from the U.S. House of Representatives’ Democratic Party leadership. Negotiations have been ongoing, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were set to continue talks today. Mnuchin’s last offer was for $1.6 trillion.
In the tweets, Trump said he had instructed his administration to cease negotiations until after the November presidential election.
“We made a very generous offer of $1.6 Trillion Dollars and, as usual, she is not negotiating in good faith. I am rejecting their request, and looking to the future of our Country. I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business,” he tweeted.
At 2:50 p.m., the Dow Jones was trading at 28,346.22 points, and the market dropped 524.41 points by 3:10 p.m. The average rose to 27,923.53 before falling back to 27,772.76 points.
This marked a drop of 375.88 points or 1.34 percent of the market from the day’s start.
Both the Nadaq Composite and the S&P 500 had a similar drop, falling 1.57 percent and 1.40 percent, respectively, after Trump’s announcement. Nasdaq fell 177.88 points to 11,154.60 points from a start of 11,314.53. The S&P 500 Index dropped 47.48 points, ending the day at 3,360.95 points from a start of 3,408.74 points.
Notably, several Arkansas companies had substantial stock reactions to the announcement. Walmart saw its stock price drop to 1.18, or 0.84 percent, in the wake of the tweets. In the immediate aftermath of the tweets, Walmart’s stock price fell to $140.30 before recovering by the close of market.
Tyson Foods Inc.’s stock was also affected, dropping by 0.61 percent to $58.61 per share.
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