US Equity Indexes Sink With Treasury Yields as Trump Warns of 'Massive' Tariff Surge on China

01:22 PM EDT, 10/10/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes slumped along with government bond yields and the dollar in midday trading on Friday as President Donald Trump threatened a "massive" increase in trade tariffs on China, the world's second-largest economy.

The Nasdaq Composite slumped 2.6% to 22,431.5, with the S&P 500 down 1.8% to 6,610.9 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.3% lower at 45,779.3. All sectors except utilities and consumer staples fell intraday, with consumer discretionary and technology emerging as the steepest decliners.

"One of the policies that we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States of America," Trump said in a Truth Social post Friday. China is "becoming very hostile, and sending letters to countries throughout the world, that they want to impose export controls on each and every element of production having to do with rare earths."

"I was to meet [China's] President Xi [Jinping] in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so," Trump said. "Dependent on what China says about the hostile 'order' that they have just put out, I will be forced, as President of the United States of America, to financially counter their move," referring to the "monopoly positions" that the US possesses.

Gold futures jumped 0.6% to $3,997.60, and silver futures advanced less than 1% to $47.22.

Most US Treasury yields fell, with the two-year yield down 7.7 basis points to 3.52% and the 10-year rate 9.3 basis points lower at 4.06%.

The ICE US Dollar Index, which measures greenback strength against a basket of major currencies, slid 0.5% to 99.03.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures sank 4.3% to $58.91 a barrel.

In economic news, the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index slipped to 55.0 in October from 55.1 in September, compared with expectations for 54.0 in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. Respondents saw one-year inflation expectations at 4.6%, down from 4.7% in September, while five-year inflation expectations remained at 3.7%.

Meanwhile, the partial shutdown of the US federal government entered its 10th day as funding bills from Democrats and Republicans reportedly failed in the Senate for the seventh time. No further votes are expected until Tuesday, meaning the stalemate will extend into next week, CBS NEWS reported.

In company news, Mosaic (MOS) said its preliminary Q3 phosphate production fell short of expectations because of "unexpected mechanical issues" at its Riverview sulfuric acid plant and utility interruptions at Bartow in September. Shares of Mosaic slumped 8.1% intraday, the steepest decline on the S&P 500.

CVS Health's (CVS) Aetna unit has more than 81% of members in top-rated programs, and UnitedHealth (UNH) has 78%, according to the US government's 2026 quality ratings, Reuters reported, citing data released by the government. UnitedHealth (UNH) shares declined 3.2% intraday.

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