US STOCKS-Wall Street drops as Trump's auto tariffs weigh on sentiment

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Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) down after brokerage downgrade

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Weekly jobless claims at 224,000

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Indexes down: S&P 500 0.17%, Nasdaq 0.22%, Dow 0.27%

(Updates to afternoon US trading)

By Johann M Cherian and Noel Randewich

March 27 (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks dipped on Thursday, as investors grappled with U.S. President Donald Trump's latest trade tariff announcement that hit shares of General Motors ( GM ) and Ford. Trump unveiled on Wednesday his plan to implement a 25% tariff on imported cars and light trucks effective on April 3, while the duty on auto parts begins on May 3. Investors are also bracing for a wave of reciprocal tariffs Trump plans to unveil on Wednesday, although the president has hinted there may be room for flexibility. General Motors ( GM ) tumbled 7% while Ford declined 3.25%. Car-parts manufacturers Aptiv and BorgWarner ( BWA ) each fell about 5%. Tesla rose 1.4%, with investors betting the electric vehicle maker might be hurt less by tariffs because of its largely domestic production.

Trump's mercurial trade policies have created uncertainty on Wall Street, as investors fret over potential disruptions to supply chains, hampered investment, and the specter of inflation threatening global economic growth. "Investors are really cautious and wary of Trump and his policies. Even more than the policies, just the constant flip-flopping," said Jed Ellerbroek, a portfolio manager at Argent Capital in St. Louis, Missouri. "That makes people really nervous to make long-term investment decisions, whether we're talking about companies or about investors." The S&P 500 was down 0.17% at 5,702.43 points. The Nasdaq declined 0.22% to 17,859.43 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.27% at 42,339.75 points. Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, seven declined, led lower by energy, down 0.92%, followed by a 0.44% loss in information technology. The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits slipped last week, while the jobless rate appeared to have held steady in March.

Also on Thursday, the headline figure for fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth was revised to 2.4%, higher than the consensus estimate of 2.3% in a Reuters poll. Investors on Friday will focus on the February personal consumption expenditures price index - the Federal Reserve's favored inflation gauge. Traders have trimmed their exposure to U.S. equities, with the S&P 500 down about 7% from its record high close on February 19. The Nasdaq remains down about 11% from its record high close on December 16. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are both on course to conclude the first quarter of 2025 in negative territory. The S&P 500 is poised for its first quarterly decline in six quarters.

Fed policymakers Susan Collins and Thomas Barkin are expected to share their economic insights later on Thursday. Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) lost 3.4% after Jefferies downgraded the chip stock to "hold" from "buy," helping send the PHLX chip index down about 2%. Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones within the S&P 500 by a 1.3-to-one ratio. The S&P 500 posted 15 new highs and seven new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 31 new highs and 175 new lows.

(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap and Johann M Cherian in Bangalore, and by Noel Randewich in Oakland, California; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Maju Samuel and Rod Nickel)