The selling isn’t over yet.
Stock futures pointed lower again Friday after Wall Street suffered the worst selloff since March 2020 in the previous session as the market continued to digest President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs.
S&P 500 futures were down 0.4%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 0.4% and futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 fell 0.2%. All three main indexes had their worst day since March 16 2020 on Thursday, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The S&P 500 plunged 4.8%, the Dow declined 4% and the Nasdaq Composite sank 6%.
In total, U.S. stocks listed on the major exchanges lost $3.1 trillion in market cap. The Magnificent Seven group of stocks accounted for just over $1 trillion of that, led by Apple, Amazon and Meta, which all fell 9%.
“The last 24 hours have been truly historic for markets, as the impact of the U.S. reciprocal tariffs cascaded across different asset classes, with no sign of letting up overnight,” Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid said early Friday.
Trump announced plans for a 10% baseline tariff on almost all countries along with higher levies ranging from 49% to 10%. Economists estimate that will push the average U.S. tariff rate to above 20%, up from around 2.5% last year.
“Equity markets are reacting about as expected to the worse-than-feared tariff news. The drastic jump in the U.S. tariff rate will weigh on global economic activity, earnings growth, profit margins and introduce upside risk to inflation,” LPL Financial chief technical strategist Adam Turnquist said Thursday.
Investors will be closely monitoring trade developments Friday, and particularly whether countries opt to retaliate or negotiate. Trump said late Thursday he might be willing to negotiate with countries over tariffs.
There’s also Friday’s jobs reports for March, due to be released later this morning. The data will give a key update on the labor market ahead of the latest tariffs taking effect–economists expect to see 130,000 jobs added to the U.S. economy.
But the employment report “feels like a lose-lose situation for markets,” Barclays Private Bank’s chief market strategist Julian Lafargue said.