Has the Tariff Rally Ended? $600 Million Vanishes from U.S. Steel Stocks in a Day

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE: CLF) closed at $12.65 on the New York Stock Exchange on the 7th, down 6.5%, reducing its market capitalization to about $7.2 billion (approximately KRW 11 trillion). The company lost roughly $440 million in value in a single day—around KRW 670 billion—on trading volume of 15.09 million shares, as shares that had surged on hopes for U.S. steel tariffs pulled back amid profit-taking and heightened volatility.

Earlier this month, Wells Fargo raised its price target on CLF from $9 to $14 while maintaining a “Neutral” rating, noting that first-quarter revenue showed only modest growth and the company posted a net loss of about $230 million, highlighting a slow path to profitability.

So far this year, Cleveland-Cliffs has been one of the most volatile steel stocks, sliding nearly 26% over nine consecutive trading days in March amid concerns over share dilution from a large equity raise, disappointing earnings, and successive target‐price cuts.

Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland-Cliffs is North America’s only fully integrated flat-rolled steel producer, with operations spanning iron ore mining through hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and electrical steel production. The company supplies high-grade steel to major North American automakers such as Ford and General Motors, making its results and share price highly sensitive to macro factors including U.S. steel import regulations, automotive production cycles, and infrastructure spending.