{"id":24750,"date":"2025-03-31T15:07:22","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T20:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eoption.com\/market-review-march-31-2025\/"},"modified":"2025-03-31T15:07:22","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T20:07:22","slug":"market-review-march-31-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eoption.com\/market-review-march-31-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Market Review: March 31, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Closing Recap<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Monday, March 31, 2025<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Index<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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Up\/Down<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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Last<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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DJ Industrials<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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417.49<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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1.00%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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42,001<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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S&P 500<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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30.97<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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0.55%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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5,611<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Nasdaq<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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-23.70<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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0.14%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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17,299<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Russell 2000<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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-11.37<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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0.56%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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2,011<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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U.S. stocks were down most of morning before rebounding to end the day mixed, closing out a brutal March that saw big declines for major averages on tariff impact fears, slowing consumer spending fears on the economy and technical breakdowns. The Nasdaq 100 (NDX<\/span>) is down about ~8% in March (worst month since Dec’22), and down ~8% on the quarter (worst quarter since 2Q’22). The Nasdaq Composite is down -10.3% in the quarter after a -9.35% decline in March. The S&P 500 index is down 5% YTD<\/span> after a -6.6% decline in March. The weakness today comes ahead of President Trump’s first Rose Garden event of his second term on April 3rd to announce his reciprocal tariff plans on trading partners and key monthly jobs data all week (JOLTS<\/span> tomorrow, ADP<\/span> private payrolls Wednesday and Nonfarm Payrolls on Friday). <\/p>\n

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Several factors along with market uncertainty for tariffs on the economy have weighed on the tech trade to kick of 2025 (after back-to-back stellar years) including diminished confidence in near-term earnings, IT<\/span> spending concerns (ACN<\/span>, DOGE<\/span> impact, etc.), loss of momentum in the GenAI narrative, high-level themes like Europe bringing investment money back home, as well as weak consumer datapoints (the latest Virgin Atlantic Airways CEO<\/span> said we “have started to see some signals that US<\/span> demand is slowing in last few weeks”) hitting Mega cap in Tech.<\/p>\n

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Weakness overseas as well on global tariff impact uncertainty as Europe’s Stoxx 600 dropped -1.47% to its lowest since Feb 4, Britain’s FTSE<\/span> 100 was down -0.87%; Germany’s DAX<\/span> fell -1.33% and France’s CAC<\/span> 40 declined -1.55%. In Asia, the Nikkei Index tumbled -1,500 points or 4% to settle at 35,617, the Shanghai Index dropped -15 points to 3,335, and the Hang Seng Index fell -152 points to 23,426<\/p>\n

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Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s David Kostin cut his S<\/span>&P 500 target for a second time this month as the strategist now expects the benchmark to end the year around 5,700 points versus his previous estimate of 6,200, citing a higher recession risk and tariff-related uncertainty. The new target implies gains of just 2% from Friday’s close and is among the lowest on Wall Street. Higher tariffs and weaker growth reduce their earnings estimates and S<\/span>&P 500 return forecasts. Cut our S<\/span>&P 500 EPS<\/span> growth forecasts to +3% in 2025 (from +7%) and +6% in 2026 (from +7%). Our new EPS<\/span> estimates are $253 and $269, respectively. <\/p>\n

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In stock news: Biotech (XBI<\/span>, IBB<\/span>) tumbled following news of a key departure this weekend at the FDA. Dr. Peter Marks, the Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER<\/span>) at the FDA was seen as a negative surprise to Wall Street. Shares of vaccine makers (MRNA<\/span>, BNTX<\/span>, NVAX<\/span>) weak as other gene-therapy companies fell. Ongoing weakness in shares of companies connected to artificial intelligence (AI<\/span>) fell again as investors increasingly questioned the outlook for the sector, which has been a central driver of overall market gains prior. Shares of NVDA<\/span>, ARM<\/span>, AVGO<\/span> in chips, SMCI<\/span>, VRT<\/span>, DELL<\/span>, ETN<\/span> in data center, GOOGL<\/span>, MSFT<\/span> weaker. Travel and consumer related stocks were broadly lower following global stock pressure amid intensifying worries about the impact of US<\/span> tariffs. The uncertainty is seen as weighing on consumers, and travel & leisure stocks were hit early Monday with airlines (AAL<\/span>, DAL<\/span>, UAL<\/span>), cruise lines (CCL<\/span>, NCLH<\/span>, RCL<\/span>), online travel\/lodging (ABNB<\/span>, EXPE<\/span>, BKNG<\/span>) all tumbling early. <\/p>\n

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Economic Data<\/p>\n