A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., March 28, 2025.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
U.S. stock futures fell on Sunday night as traders looked ahead to “Liberation Day” for clarity on President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 258 points, or 0.6%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively.
A slew of tariffs set to be enacted by the Trump administration will go into effect on Wednesday — what Trump has called “Liberation Day” — including a 25% levy on “all cars that are not made in the United States.” The president is also expected to announce his plan for reciprocal tariffs.
Uncertainty surrounding tariffs has been an overhang on equities, dragging stocks lower again on Friday to end the last full trading week of March. Trump did little to assuage fears over the weekend, with The Wall Street Journal reporting Sunday that the president had in recent days pushed his advisors to get more aggressive when it comes to tariffs. In a Saturday interview with NBC News, Trump said that he “couldn’t care less” if foreign automakers raise their prices due to these new tariffs.
On Wednesday, it is hoped investors will gain some clarity on which trading partners will be affected by the new duties, and by how much, wrote Emmanuel Cau, equity strategist at Barclays.
“Tariff risk has been well telegraphed and is largely priced in corners of the market. So liberation day may not be a complete shocker. However, no one wins from trade war, and clouds are gathering over the global growth outlook,” Cau wrote in a Friday note. “Negotiations will likely start after April 2, which leads to an extended period of uncertainty about the final scope, level and timing of tariffs.”
Against this backdrop of mounting trade and economic concerns, the three major averages are all on pace to end the month lower. The S&P 500 is down 6.3% for the month, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is poised for a 5.2% loss. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has tanked 8.1%.
Investors will also be looking forward to a heavy slate of economic data this week, most notably the March jobs report, which will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday, April 4.
