Dow Jones Drops 1,000 Points, While Trump Again Calls on Fed to Lower Interest Rates

It came as the president suggested on April 21 that the Federal Reserve needs to make ‘preemptive cuts’ as soon as possible.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) during afternoon trading in New York on April 9, 2025. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

The three major U.S. stock indexes opened sharply lower on the morning of April 21 amid ongoing White House negotiations on tariffs and as President Donald Trump again called on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.

As of 12:30 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading more than 1,000 points lower, or about 2.5 percent lower. The Nasdaq dropped by 2.0 percent, or more than 450 points, and the S&P 500 shed 2.7 percent. Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” the CBOE Volatility Index, was up around 13 percent.