US stock futures are pointing to further declines at the open, as markets continue to reel from the shock of Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs.
Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average indicate a 0.7% drop, while Nasdaq futures are down 0.5%. The projected declines follow steep losses on Thursday, when the S&P 500 plunged 4.8%—its worst single-day performance since June 2020—as investors reacted sharply to the tariff announcement.
Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, said:
“Financial markets expected a significant tax increase from US President Trump. Yesterday’s reaction shows the tax increase was worse than anticipated.
US dollar weakness is telling. We often say that when the US sneezes, the global economy catches a cold. This isn’t a sneeze—this is the US cutting off its own arm. The self-inflicted economic cost is naturally weakening the dollar.”
President Downplays Market Turmoil, Citing Inherited Economic Woes
The president downplayed the recent financial market turmoil, calling it “to be expected” and attributing it to the “terrible economy” he inherited.
Overnight, Japan’s Nikkei index fell nearly 3%, extending a steep decline that at one point had it on track for a weekly loss of almost 10%—its worst performance since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020.
The sell-off follows a brutal day on Wall Street, where S&P 500 companies collectively shed $2.4 trillion in market value on Thursday—their largest single-day loss since global lockdowns triggered by COVID five years ago.
