Inflation concerns, trade war worries.

Stocks lose ground amid inflation concerns, trade war worries

By Chibuike Oguh and Marc Jones

March 29, 20255:03 AM GMT+8Updated 4 days ag

Summary

Stocks struggle over tariff concerns

Gold scores fresh record high, oil slips

Bond markets increasingly pricing in recession risks

NEW YORK/LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Safe-haven gold hit a fresh record high on Friday as an index of global shares fell, weighed down by worries over a looming trade war sparked by tariff decisions from U.S. President Donald Trump.

U.S. traders had new sticky inflation data to grumble about but it was Trump's 25% tariff on auto imports and plans for much broader levies next week that continued to cause the nail-biting.

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On Wall Street, all three main indexes ended lower and notched their third straight losses. The biggest losers were communication services, consumer discretionary, technology and financial equities. Utilities stocks finished higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJIA(.DJI)$  ), opens new tab fell 1.69% to 41,583.90, the S&P 500 ($S&P 500(.SPX)$  ), opens new tab fell 1.97% to 5,580.94 and the Nasdaq Composite ( $NASDAQ(.IXIC)$  ), opens new tab fell 2.7% to 17,322.99.

Europe's STOXX 600 index (.STOXX), opens new tab finished down 0.77% and ended the week down 1.38%, dragged down by a nearly 1% drop by the car and auto parts sector. (.SXAE ), opens new tab

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS), opens new tab fell 1.58% to 829.89. It is on track to end the week down 1.44%.

State Street's head of global macro strategy, Michael Metcalfe, said U.S. car tariffs had been more aggressive than expected, especially as there had been no adjustments made for U.S. neighbors Mexico and Canada.

"What I don't know is whether the hawkishness of the auto tariffs is going to translate to the broader tariffs that we are going to get next week," Metcalfe said. "And that is keeping risk appetite on the back foot."

Dollar is down 4% versus a basket of other top currencies this year

Gold prices set another new peak of $3,086.70 as the threat of trade wars drives a rush towards the safe-haven metal.

It was last up 0.86% to $3,082.25 an ounce. For the quarter it is now up more than 17%, which is its best quarterly performance since 1986, and its 18th record high this year. U.S. gold futures settled 0.8% higher at $3,114.30.

Wasif Latif, chief investment officer at Sarmaya Partners in New Jersey, said gold prices have been buoyed by rising inflation, elevated geopolitical tensions, and fiscal risks, particularly deficit spending in the U.S. and other countries.

"We continue to see inflation as being stubborn, sticky and just won't go away. The geopolitical environment continues to be risky and elevated ... You can see the fiscal risk on the U.S. budget side but also broader Western sovereign debt and it's getting challenging with the budget continuing to run a deficit and interest rates remaining stubbornly high," Latif said.