The Dow swings wildly as Trump tariffs fuel the stock market's worst week in 2 years

The Dow slumped more than 300 points Friday afternoon before recovering ground to trade higher. That followed a days-long selloff that had markets on track for their worst week in about two years amid a cascade of tariffs and tariff relief measures that left investors reeling with uncertainty.

Meanwhile, February’s jobs report came in weaker than expected. Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 151,000, an improvement from January’s downwardly revised 125,000 but below the projected 170,000. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1%.

At one point both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq had slipped by about 1%. By mid-afternoon, all three major market indexes in the green. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 0.4%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were both up about 0.3%.

Walgreens (WBA) stock rose 7% Friday after Walgreens Boots Alliance agreed to a $10 billion acquisition by Sycamore Partners, marking a shift to a privately held company. Sycamore will purchase Walgreens for $11.45 per share in cash.

Walgreens’ woes are extensive. As consumers increasingly turned to e-commerce giants like Amazon for everyday essentials, Walgreens struggled to keep pace. Meanwhile, rivals like CVS merged with health insurers, gaining control of the lucrative reimbursement market. Caught on a tightrope, Walgreens failed to find its balance. In Oct. 2024, the company announced plans to close 1,200 stores in an effort to stem its financial losses.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, lost billions of dollars in the first two months of the year, but he’s still holding onto his title.

The Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX CEO — and de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — has seen his estimated net worth drop from a peak of $486 billion to $330 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires List. That $156 billion loss still leaves him far ahead of Jeff Bezos, whose projected net worth stands at $222 billion. On Friday afternoon, Tesla stock was down over 2%.

—Francisco Velasquez and William Gavin contributed to this article

For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.