Tesla, Nvidia lose ground as markets take a tumble on bad economic news

Tesla’s (TSLA-3.99%) status as the “winner” of President Donald Trump’s new auto tariffs didn’t protect it from a tech-led market selloff on Friday, as the stock followed Nvidia (NVDA-1.50%) and the rest of the Magnificent 7 lower after new economic numbers pointed toward the possibility of stagflation.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index fell 2.7%, the S&P 500 declined 2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial average shed 715.8 points, or 1.7%. Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL-5.03%) led the Mag 7 lower, plunging 4.9%, Amazon’s (AMZN-4.48%) stock fell 4.3%, Tesla slid 3.5%, and Nvidia eased 1.6%.

The personal consumption report for February released Friday showed the core PCE deflator — the Federal Reserve’s favored inflation measure — heating up while real household spending weakened. That creates a situation where the Fed is torn between curtailing price gains and supporting growth.

“Today’s report highlights the difficult predicament the Fed is now confronting,” Citigroup (C-2.41%) economists wrote. “Ultimately, we expect Fed officials to dovishly lean toward their full-employment mandate, but that would depend on upcoming data and in particular on … March spending and inflation.”

Trump’s trade war is also weighing on investors. The 25% tariffs on all car, truck, and auto part imports that the president announced Wednesday evening continued to depress automakers’ stocks Friday, with Stellantis (STLA-4.19%) dropping 4.1%, Ford (F-2.12%) down 2%, and General Motors (GM-1.37%) off 1.1%. The ADRs of Toyota (TM-2.84%), Volkswagen (VWAGY-2.65%) and Honda (HMC-5.35%) also declined.

Separately, Lululemon’s (LULU-15.11%) stock plunged 14% after the athleisure wear maker’s sales and profit projections missed analyst expectations. The company has scrambled to update its product line to compete with trendier brands, Reuters (TRI-0.92%) reported.

Chris Grisanti, chief market strategist at MAI Capital Management, said he was surprised by the relatively benign market reaction to the auto tariffs, which were more hawkish than he’d anticipated. He now expects new duties on April 2 to also be hawkish, possibly followed by another muted reaction from investors.

Chairman Jerome Powell and his fellow policymakers will probably wait longer to see the impact of Trump’s tariffs, especially on inflation, before making any decision on cutting rates, Grisanti told Quartz.

“The only way I see Trump getting the Fed on his side is if he tanks the economy,” Grisanti said. “We can slice and dice these economic numbers as much as we want, but the Fed is on hold until we get some tariff clarity.”