Global stocks fell sharply, gold prices scaled new highs and US treasuries rallied after US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that reciprocal tariffs he is set to announce this week will include all nations.
At 7am, US S&P 500 E-minis fell 51.25 points, or 0.91%, Nasdaq 100 E-minis dropped 246.5 points, or 1.27%, and Dow E-minis were down 251 points, or 0.6%.
Futures tracking the domestically focused Russell 2000 index were down 1.2%.
US stock markets have succumbed to sharp selling pressure this year as Trump announced tariffs on some of the US’ main trading partners, raising fears of a global economic slowdown and a spike in inflation.
Trump, who sees tariffs as a way of protecting the domestic economy from unfair global competition, has promised to unveil a massive tariff plan on Wednesday, which he has dubbed “Liberation Day”.
“We doubt ‘Liberation Day’ is going to mark the end around tariff uncertainty … the potential is in fact higher for the April 2 deadline to introduce even more uncertainty, and hence the prolonged broad-based weakness in leading indicators,” said HSBC’s chief multi-asset strategist Max Kettner.
Wall Street’s main indexes were set for big monthly and quarterly declines, with the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq set for their worst quarterly performances in about three years.
The blue-chip Dow Index is teetering just about 2% away from confirming a correction, or a 10% decline from its all-time high.
Meanwhile, the other two major Wall Street indexes have already entered correction territory earlier this month.
Tech stocks were at the forefront of the selloff today, with Nvidia sliding 3.8% in premarket trading. Microsoft fell 1.4% and Tesla slid 5%.
The CBOE Volatility index, also known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, touched a more than two-week high at 24.04 points.
Goldman Sachs raised its US recession probability to 35% from 20% and cut its 2025 GDP growth forecast to 1.5% from 2.0%.
Goldman also expects the Federal Reserve (Fed) to cut interest rates thrice this year, up from its previous forecast of two, expecting heightened recession risks due to US tariffs.
The focus this week will also be on a slew of economic data including the crucial non-farm payrolls report on Friday as well as speeches from several US central bank officials.
Fed chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak on Friday.
Shares of gene therapy makers and developers slid after a report that Peter Marks, a top official at the US FDA, has been pushed out of the agency.
Taysha Gene Therapies and Solid Biosciences were down more than 6% each, while US-listed shares of CRISPR Therapeutics lost 2.8%.