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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.