(Updates prices to late afternoon with U.S. crude settlement)

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Stocks fall as investors look for safer assets

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US Treasury yields drop, crude oil settles down >$1

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S&P 500 and Nasdaq face biggest one-day percentage losses

since

September 2022

By Sinéad Carew and Nell Mackenzie

NEW YORK/LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - Global stocks

slumped more than 2% after earlier touching a near two-month low

on Monday while U.S. bond yields dropped as investors worried

about an economic slowdown after U.S. President Donald Trump did

not rule out his tariffs causing a recession.

Wall Street indexes extended losses gradually as the session

wore on. But investors had started seeking safety as early as

Sunday when Trump in a Fox News interview talked about a "period

of transition" while declining to predict whether his tariffs on

China, Canada and Mexico would result in a U.S. recession.

Market strategists pointed to the comments as a key reason

for Monday's cautious mood among investors.

"The Trump administration seems a little more accepting of

the idea that they're OK with the market falling, and they're

potentially even OK with a recession in order to exact their

broader goals," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at

Baird in Louisville, Kentucky.

"I think that's a big wake-up call for Wall Street. There

had been a sense that President Trump kind of measured his

success on stock market performance. There was even somewhat of

a "Trump put" so to speak. And I think we're seeing that's not

the case, so the market is starting to reflect that reality."

On Wall Street at 2:55 p.m., the S&P 500 fell 185.25

points, or 3.22%, to 5,584.33 and the Nasdaq Composite

fell 833.24 points, or 4.58%, to 17,362.99 with both on track

for their biggest one-day percentage losses since September

2022.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,052.26

points, or 2.46%, to 41,748.50

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe

fell 22.68 points, or 2.66%, to 829.42, eying its biggest

one-day drop since August 2024. Earlier, the pan-European STOXX

600 index closed down 1.29%.

Yields fell with U.S. government bonds in demand after the

Trump interview cut into investor confidence.

"If the occupant in the White House is himself not terribly

optimistic about short-term growth expectations, why should the

market be optimistic about it?" said Will Compernolle, macro

strategist at FHN Financial.

Heading for its biggest one-day drop in almost a month, the

yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 9.7 basis

points to 4.221%, from 4.318% late on Friday.

The 30-year bond yield fell 7.4 basis points to

4.5432% while the 2-year note yield, which typically

moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal

Reserve, fell 10 basis points to 3.902%.

In currencies, investors looked for safety. Against the

Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.5% to 147.29.

However, the euro was down 0.05% at $1.0827 and

Sterling weakened 0.41% to $1.2868.

Oil prices sank as tariff uncertainty kept investors on edge

along with rising output from OPEC+ producers, although

potential sanctions on Iranian oil exports limited losses.

U.S. crude settled down 1.51% or $1.01 at $66.03 a

barrel while Brent settled at $69.28 per barrel, down

$1.08 or 1.53%.

Gold prices fell as profit-taking countered support from

safe-haven demand fueled by geopolitical uncertainty, with focus

also on the U.S. inflation data later this week.

Spot gold fell 0.89% to $2,884.97 an ounce. U.S. gold

futures fell 0.84% to $2,880.20 an ounce. Copper

declined 1.14% to $9,504.00 a tonne.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin fell 6.44% to

$77,734.00. Ethereum declined 9.68% to $1,849.88.