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Indexes: S&P 500 up 0.14%, Nasdaq up 0.48%, Dow off 0.62%

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S&P 500 pares losses after flirting with a bear market

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Trump threatens additional tariffs on China

(Updates prices to late afternoon)

By Sinéad Carew and Pranav Kashyap

April 7 (Reuters) -

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained slightly on Monday but

trade was volatile as investors worried about an economic

slowdown and rising inflation as U.S. President Donald Trump dug

his heels in on tariffs, warning that he could further increase

levies on China.

Wall Street equities have been hammered since Trump's

sweeping tariffs, announced late Wednesday, on all imports into

the U.S. and much higher levies on some major trading partners.

Early on Monday, all three major U.S. indexes touched their

lowest levels in more than a year, and the CBOE Volatility index

breached 60 points, which was its highest level since

August 2024. In the afternoon, the volatility index, seen as

Wall Street's fear gauge, was at 46.35 points.

"On a constructive note, we're still off of the early

morning lows," said Michael James, managing director of equity

trading at Rosenblatt Securities.

"But without any improvement in the tariff situation,

which is the dominant focus of everyone's attention, it's going

to be hard to expect that there will be much meaningful upside,

outside of a potential over-sold bounce."

At 2:15 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average was

down 237.80 points, or 0.62%, to 38,077.06, the S&P 500

gained 7.02 points, or 0.14%, to 5,081.10 and the Nasdaq

Composite gained 75.37 points, or 0.48%, to 15,663.15.

Real estate, down more than 1%, was the

biggest decliner among the S&P's 11 major industry indexes while

communications services, was its biggest gainer, up

almost 2%.

During the session, the S&P 500 was 20% below its record

closing high. If the index ends down 20% from its closing

record, this would confirm it has been in a bear market since

February.

In the two days following Trump's Wednesday tariff

announcement, the benchmark S&P 500 index fell 10.5% and lost

about $5 trillion in market value. It was the biggest two-day

loss since March 2020.

The blue-chip Dow confirmed on Friday that it is in a

correction, or more than 10% below its December record close and

the Nasdaq last week confirmed it had been in a bear market.

Several speeches by Federal Reserve officials and a

series of economic indicators, including consumer price data,

are expected this week, with markets keenly observing any

signals of recessionary fears.

The market swung dramatically early on Monday, a news report

said Trump was considering a 90-day pause on tariffs. White

House officials quickly denied the report, sending the market

back into the red.

At one point, CNBC showed an on-screen chyron citing White

House economic adviser Kevin Hassett for the tariff pause. It

then reported the White House denials.

"As we were chasing the news of the market moves in real

time, we aired unconfirmed information in a banner. Our

reporters quickly made a correction on air," a CNBC spokesperson

said.

Reuters also published the report about Hassett's comment

with attribution to CNBC. In one version, Reuters failed to

credit the broadcaster and later withdrew that report.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 3.22-to-1

ratio on the NYSE where there were 38 new highs and 1892 new

lows.

On the Nasdaq, 1,545 stocks rose and 2,915 fell as

declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.89-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and 167 new lows

while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 9 new highs and 980 new

lows.