'Keep the Faith': Trump Admin Confident About Economy Despite Big Stock Losses

Stocks plummeted across the board yet again on Tuesday, dropping 551 points, wiping out all the gains the market made in 2018.

Tech stocks led the drop-off and it filtered through the rest of market. Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google's parent company Alphabet were all down.

According to The New York Times, those companies lost a combined $822 billion in market value since August. 

"Technology companies are down again," said Associated Press Markets Writer Marley Jay. "Oil prices are falling again. We also have weak results from a couple of different retailers."

National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told reporters that he isn't worried.

"You've got roughly a month left in them, so we'll see how the year ends," he said. 

Observers say global fears of a US trade war with China are fueling the market's drop. The two countries have raised tariffs on billions of dollars of each other's goods in a fight over China's technology policy.

"There was hope for a lot of this year that the US and China were going to work out their problems without too much difficulty," explained Jay. "And now with the possibility of a lot of tariffs rising at the beginning of next year, people are concerned that this is actually going to drag on a lot longer then it might have a pronounced effect on the global economy."

Oil and gas stocks also took a hit. Oil prices tumbled another 6.6 percent Tuesday as Wall Street reacted to rising oil supplies. 

Some say all of this indicates an increased risk of recession, but Kudlow says the economy is strong.

"Keep the faith," he said. "It's a very strong economy. Recession is so far in the distance. I can't see it."

Meanwhile, President Trump blames the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates and putting a drag on economic growth.