U.S. stock futures were hit once again on Monday as the White House remained defiant after President Donald Trump’s rollout of shockingly high tariff rates on most key U.S. trading partners has sparked a three-day market meltdown. S&P 500 futures shed 2.8% with the benchmark nearing bear market territory when official trading begins. It closed Friday down 17.4% from its closing record touched in February. Dow Jones Industrial average futures fell 1,000 points, or 2.6%. Nasdaq-100 futures lost 2.9% as investors continued to shed their one-time tech winners to raise cash. This follows a market wipeout to end last week:

  • The Dow posted back-to-back losses of more than 1,500 points for the first time ever, including a 2,231-point shellacking on Friday.
  • The S&P 500 dropped 6% on Friday for its worst performance since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. The benchmark lost 10% in two days.
  • The Nasdaq Composite entered a bear market Friday — down 22% from its record — after losses on Thursday and Friday of nearly 6% apiece.

Trump’s initial unilateral 10% tariff went into effect Saturday. Investors were hoping for news over the weekend that the Trump administration was having successful negotiations with countries to lower the tariff rates, or at the very least, was considering delaying the set of so-called reciprocal tariffs due to take effect April 9. Instead the president and his key advisors played down the sell-off:

  • Trump said Sunday evening on the market sell-off: “I don’t want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”
  • Trump added, “We have a trillion-dollar trade deficit with China, hundreds of billions of dollars a year we lose with China. And unless we solve that problem, I’m not going to make a deal.”
  • Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CBS News that the tariffs would not be postponed. “The tariffs are coming… They are definitely going to stay in place for days and weeks.”
  • Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted to NBC News that more than 50 countries have approached the administration for negotiations, but cautioned “they’ve been bad actors for a long time, and it’s not the kind of thing you can negotiate away in days or weeks.”

Investors were surprised first by the magnitude of certain rates applied to trading partners that appeared to be based on a formula without a valid rationale based on established economic theory. They were rattled further when China on Friday decided to retaliate with a 34% tariff on all U.S. imports, instead of negotiating first. “The president is losing the confidence of business leaders around the globe…this is not what we voted for,” wrote Bill Ackman, billionaire head of Pershing Square, on X. “The President has an opportunity on Monday to call a time out and have the time to execute on fixing an unfair tariff system. Alternatively, we are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter, and we should start hunkering down.” While the administration said at least 50 nations had reached out to start negotiations, Canada and the European Union were planning to follow China’s lead and readying retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. Vietnam has offered already to cut tariffs on the U.S. to zero, according to Trump, but trade advisor Peter Navarro told CNBC on Monday that wasn’t enough and that it was the non-tariff cheating that matters. This suggests negotiations could be drawn out longer than Wall Street would like. Fears grew on Wall Street that the sell-off would feed on itself with hedge funds forced to sell down equities and other risky assets to raise cash needed meet margin calls. The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, surged to the 50 level early Monday, an extreme level seen mostly only during bear markets. “Margin calls are going out as we speak,” said Chris Rupkey chief economist at FWDBONDS. “For a third straight day investors in U.S. equity markets have turned (a) huge thumbs down on the White House Liberation Day tariffs which have rocked Wall Street.” The contagion spread to other assets and around the globe. The price of bitcoin, tumbled below $77,000. U.S. crude oil dropped below $60 a barrel to a multiyear low. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 13% for its biggest decline since 1997. Germany’s DAX Index lost as much as 10% during Monday’s session. Tesla led the losses in premarket trading, down 6%. Caterpillar, a big seller of construction equipment around the world, fell 5% early Monday. Apple shares lost 4%. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed back above the 4% level on Monday, even as President Donald Trump’s tariffs sparked fears of an economic slowdown. The yield on the 10-year Treasury gained more than 5 basis points at 4.043%. Meanwhile, the 2-year Treasury yield dropped 3 basis points to 3.639%. Asia-Pacific markets extended their sell-off Monday as fears over a global trade war sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs fueled a risk-off mood. Hong Kong markets led losses in the region, with the Hang Seng Index declining 13.22% to 19,828.30, while the Hang Seng Tech index plunged 17.16% to 4,401.51. Mainland China’s CSI 300 plummeted 7.05% to 3,589.44, making this its largest one-day drop since last October. Chinese markets have taken a hit from Beijing’s retaliatory move on Trump’s tariffs, Qi Wang, UOB Kay Hian chief investment officer for wealth management, told CNBC’s “The China Connection” on Monday. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 7.83% to hit an 18-month low at 31,136.58, while the broader Topix index plummeted 7.79% to 2,288.66. Earlier in the day, trading in Japanese futures was suspended due the market hitting circuit breakers. In South Korea, the Kospi index plunged 5.57% to 2,328.20, while the small-cap Kosdaq declined 5.25% to 651.30. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 4.23% to end the day at 7,343,30. The benchmark slid into correction territory with an 11% decline since its last high in February, in its previous session. U.S. oil prices dropped below $60 a barrel on fears President Donald Trump’s global tariffs would push the U.S., and maybe the world, into a recession. The decision by key OPEC+ producers last week to increase the pace of production hikes has also put downward pressure on oil prices. Saudi Aramco on Sunday slashed the price of its flagship Arab Light crude. Futures tied to U.S. West Texas intermediate crude hit a session low of $58.95 per barrel. Global benchmark Brent fell to an intraday low of $62.51. U.S .crude oil was last down 2.6%, or $1.68, at $60.31, while Brent was down 2.3%, or $1.50, at $64.08. The benchmarks were trading at their lowest levels since 2021. The latest price action comes after U.S. crude and Brent closed down more than 10% last week. Gold prices held steady on Monday, bolstered by strong central bank demand and the potential for an early interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Spot gold was up 0.1% $3,040.57 an ounce as of 1139 GMT, after hitting a session-low of $2,971.09 earlier in the session as some investors sold bullion to cover losses in other trades. U.S. gold futures rose 0.8% to $3,059.20.