Stocks tumbled out of the gate on a mixed round of jobs data. President Donald Trump's temporary pause on tariffs couldn't save the indexes this time around, with one major benchmark closing firmly in correction territory.
Ahead of the open, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said there were 172,017 job cuts in February – the most since July 2020 and more than triple what was seen in January.
"With the impact of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) actions, as well as canceled Government contracts, fear of trade wars, and bankruptcies, job cuts soared in February," said Andrew Challenger, senior vice president and workplace expert for Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
However, separate data from the Labor Department showed initial jobless claims fell by 21,000 last week to 221,000.
"The impact of federal layoffs is beginning to trickle into the official data," says Elizabeth Renter, senior economist at NerdWallet. "Unfortunately, this labor market will not be conducive to a quick rebound – hiring rates are relatively low and uncertainty across the economy is likely to make businesses cautious about labor investments."
Stocks fail to get a tariff boost
The main indexes opened more than 1% lower across the board following the jobs data but pared these initial losses mid-morning after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC that tariffs would likely be paused on goods covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a free trade deal signed by Trump and the leaders from the other two countries in 2020.
However, stocks quickly resumed sliding – even after Trump confirmed a reprieve for Canada and Mexico through April 2. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1% at 42,579 and the S&P 500 was off 1.8% at 5,738. The Nasdaq Composite slumped 2.6% to 18,069, falling into correction territory – or 10% below its most recent high.
Marvell spirals after earnings
In single-stock news, Marvell Technology (MRVL) nosedived 19.8% as the chipmaker's fiscal first-quarter revenue guidance fell short of some Wall Street estimates. However, the company still reported higher-than-expected fiscal Q4 earnings and revenue.
Argus Research analyst Jim Kelleher kept a Buy rating on the semiconductor stock after earnings, explaining that Thursday's slide came amid "a deeply down market" and recent profit-taking on high-flying artificial intelligence (AI) stocks.
However, Kelleher believes MRVL "is positioned for increased momentum in AI and recovery in other key markets over time," and its fiscal Q4 print showed that its "data center business is gaining momentum from AI." The analyst adds that enterprise demand is "gradually recovering, while service provider spending should strengthen" throughout the year.
Several other chipmakers sold off in sympathy with MRVL, including Nvidia (NVDA, -5.7%), Broadcom (AVGO, -6.3%) and Arm Holdings (ARM, -5.5%).
Buy the dip on MongoDB, says one analyst
Elsewhere in the tech sector, MongoDB (MDB) plunged 26.9%, making it the worst S&P 500 stock on Thursday, after the database software provider reported earnings.
For its fiscal fourth quarter, MongoDB reported earnings of $1.28 per share on revenue of $548 million, beating analysts' estimates. However, the company forecast lower-than-expected full-year earnings of $2.44 to $2.62 per share on revenue of $2.24 billion to $2.28 billion.
William Blair analyst Jason Ader isn't too worried. He maintained an Outperform (Buy) rating on MDB and said to "buy the dip" on the tech stock. "We continue to be believers in the story in view of the company's multiyear growth runway that is supported by low market share today, expected benefits from GenAI adoption, and go-to-market enhancements," Ader says.
Jobs report, Powell on tap
The volatile price action could continue on Friday. In addition to the highly anticipated February jobs report, a late-morning speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is likely to draw attention.
The head of the U.S. central bank will give a speech on the economic outlook at the Chicago Booth School of Business starting at 11:30 am Eastern Standard Time.
