President Donald Trump’s recent announcement of “Liberation Day” tariffs resulted in a massive financial impact on the global markets, with a significant decline on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced a drop of 1600 points, marking the largest one-day decrease since March 2020. This fall led to approximately $3 trillion in market value loss, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
JPMorgan, an investment bank, warned of dire consequences in a research report, stating “there will be blood,” and adjusted its global recession forecast for this year to 60%, up from 40% before the tariffs were announced. The market volatility was exacerbated by China’s announcement of an additional 34% retaliatory tariff on U.S. imports, further pushing the markets down on Friday.
The oil and gas sector is notably affected despite energy commodities being exempt from Trump’s tariffs. Brent oil futures dropped following the announcement, compounded by plans from eight OPEC countries to increase output, resulting in a fall to around $70 a barrel by Thursday’s end. This instability poses challenges for major Houston-based companies, including Exxon Mobil, Phillips 66, and ConocoPhillips.
Houston’s top 10 public companies by revenue collectively lost over $60 billion in market value on Thursday, based on a Houston Chronicle analysis. Exxon saw its share price fall from $118.67 to $112.43, reducing its market capitalization by approximately $27 billion. ConocoPhillips’ shares dropped from $106.10 to $95.25, erasing nearly $14 billion in value. Phillips 66 experienced a nearly $7 billion loss as its stock fell from $124.06 to $107.18.
Tech companies also suffered, with Houston’s HPE seeing shares decrease from $16.12 to $13.68, resulting in a market capitalization decline from $21 billion to $18 billion, a $3 billion drop. Conversely, Sysco, the wholesale food distributor, managed to maintain stability with a slight share price increase, leaving its market value unchanged at about $37 billion.
By midday Friday, major indexes were still declining, each showing a 4% reduction for the day, indicating continued market unrest.
