By Gunjan Banerji
Wall Street braced Thursday for its most eventful day in years, after the aggressive U.S. tariff plan rattled global markets and put the post-Covid bull market on watch.
Investors and portfolio managers were racing to reassure clients following overnight declines in overseas stocks and U.S. futures of as much as 6%. Analysts were scrutinizing trading in gold, which surged to a fresh record, as well as Treasurys, whose yields fell to their lowest level this year, a sign of deep concern about the health of the world economy.
"I'm bewildered," said Sarah Ketterer, chief executive and portfolio manager at Causeway Capital Management. "We're sailing into some seriously uncharted waters."
U.S. stock futures fell sharply in early-morning trading, with contracts tied to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq-100 indexes still down by more than 3%. Major stock indexes in Japan, Hong Kong and Europe also traded lower. U.S. Treasury yields fell below 4.1% for the first time since October, and the WSJ Dollar Index slipped to its lowest level this year.
The market began to turn down midway through President Trump's hourlong speech from the White House Rose Garden, just as he revealed a wave of across-the-board tariffs against the rest of the world. The levies, he said, were pegged to the amounts that those countries imposed on the U.S. China, for one, would be hit by a new 34% tariff. Japan will be taxed 24% starting later this month, with the European Union facing a 20% tariff.
Some of the U.S.'s largest companies, including Apple, Amazon and Nike, were among those stocks that fell the most in off-hours trading.
"It was pretty shocking," said Danny Kirsch, head of options at Piper Sandler. "This is much higher than the market expected."
Write to Gunjan Banerji at gunjan.banerji@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 03, 2025 09:06 ET (13:06 GMT)
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