US President Donald Trump has not entirely dismissed concerns about an economic recession in America. This has led to heightened anxiety in the American stock market. A collapse has struck Wall Street. Investors in stock markets across several Western countries are also left worried. On Tuesday, after the Indian stock market opened, the Sensex index saw an initial decline.

Since 2022, the Nasdaq index recorded its all-time biggest drop on Monday. The S&P 500 index has also fallen by eight percent from its peak in February. Uncertainty began to cloud the markets following a recent interview Trump gave to Fox News. In the interview, he did not completely rule out the possibility of a recession in America. It is speculated that this interview has influenced the downturn on Wall Street.

Since the interview aired last Sunday, Trump has not made any direct comments about the US economy, further increasing unease among investors in the American stock market. Although top US officials have urged investors not to panic and remain calm, following Trump’s remarks, investors are busy trying to safeguard their investments. Ross Mayfield, a market expert from Kentucky, told Reuters that the Trump administration seems uninterested in taking steps to halt the stock market’s decline. He suggested that they might even accept a recession to achieve their broader objectives.

In the interview, the US President was asked whether his new tariff policies would impact the country’s economy. In response, Trump said, “I don’t like to make predictions like that. What we’re doing is a very big job. As a result, we’re going through a period of change right now. We’re reclaiming America’s wealth. That’s a huge task.” He acknowledged that achieving this goal would take some time.

Following these comments from the US President, Wall Street exhibited volatility on Monday. By the close of trading on Monday, the S&P 500 index was down 2.7 percent, marking its lowest level since September last year and the steepest single-day drop since December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average index fell by 2 percent, its lowest since November 4 of last year. The Nasdaq index saw a 4 percent drop on Monday, the lowest in nearly six months.

Elon Musk’s Tesla stock plummeted by about 15.4 percent. Shares of Nvidia, a manufacturer of artificial intelligence chips, dropped by more than 5 percent. Additionally, share prices of top-tier technology companies like Meta, Amazon, and Alphabet also declined. The downturn was not limited to the US—stock markets in India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Europe also opened lower on Tuesday. In India, the Sensex fell by 400 points at the opening bell on Tuesday morning. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was down 2.5 percent, South Korea’s KOSPI index dropped 2.3 percent, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index fell 1.8 percent on Tuesday morning. In Europe, the STOXX 600 index was down 1.29 percent on Monday.