US Stocks Likely To Open Lower After The Worst Selloff Since 2020: Tariff Announcement Was '100% Smoot Hawley Disguised As Thoughtful Policy,' Says Expert
U.S. stock futures declined on Friday after a bloodbath on Thursday following the introduction of President Donald Trump‘s tariffs. Futures of major benchmark indices were lower in premarket trading.
Fueled by a broad market downturn, the Dow Jones plummeted by a staggering 1,679 points, its fifth-largest drop ever, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq suffered their biggest single-day losses since June and March 2020, respectively.
Trump, however, dismissed the tariff-induced selloff and said, “The market is going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 3.94% and the two-year bond was at 3.61%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool shows markets pricing in a 69.4% likelihood of the Federal Reserve maintaining current interest rates through its May meeting.
Futures
Change (+/-)
Dow Jones
-1.00%
S&P 500
-0.78%
Nasdaq 100
-0.54%
Russell 2000
-1.42%
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, declined in premarket on Friday. The SPY was down 0.71% to $532.87, while the QQQ declined 0.62% to $447.85, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Cues From Last Session:
Technology sectors bore the brunt of Thursday’s U.S. stock market downturn. Specifically, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares plummeted approximately 9.3%, marking their steepest single-day decline since March 2020. Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) also saw a significant drop, tumbling 7.8%, while Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares fell by 8.98%. Across the broader market, consumer discretionary, energy, and information technology stocks registered the most substantial losses within the S&P 500.
In contrast, consumer staples stocks stood out, bucking the prevailing negative trend and closing the session higher. This sector’s resilience was highlighted by Lamb Weston Holdings Inc. (NYSE:LW), whose shares surged 10% after the company released third-quarter financial results that exceeded expectations and provided FY25 sales guidance above analyst estimates.
Economic data released Thursday presented a mixed picture. U.S. initial jobless claims decreased by 6,000 to 219,000 for the week ending March 29, falling below the anticipated 225,000. Additionally, the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $122.7 billion in February, improving from $130.7 billion in January and slightly better than the forecasted $123.5 billion. However, the ISM services PMI declined to 50.8 in March, down from 53.5 in February and below market expectations of ...
