Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., March 31, 2025.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
U.S. stock futures fell Tuesday as the market awaited clarity from President Donald Trump regarding his tariff policy rollout.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 203 points, or 0.5%. S&P 500 futures were down 0.4%, while Nasdaq-100 futures dipped 0.3%.
Traders will likely receive further insight into the situation on Wednesday, April 2 — when the White House is expected to unveil reciprocal tariffs on goods from virtually all countries. Investors had been hoping for a narrow approach toward administering the levies.
On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration is considering implementing tariffs of about 20% to most imports into the U.S. To be sure, the report — which cited three sources familiar with the matter — noted that no final decision had been made.
The uncertainty has put stocks on a rollercoaster ride. The S&P 500 on Monday touched a six-month low before recovering. For the first quarter, the index lost 4.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 10%. That marked the worst quarterly performance for both benchmarks since 2022. The Dow dropped 1.3% during the first three months of the year.
However, the future may be brighter heading into the second quarter, especially given the S&P 500’s rebound during Monday’s session, according to Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
“We saw the retest today; we might get a little bit of a bounce here. We want to buy while we’ve got a pullback,” he said Monday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.” Consider that the broad market index at one point traded 10% below its record high on Monday, but ultimately made a comeback from the drop.
“We’re expecting some broadening out in both earnings and just stock performance this year,” Wren said. “We don’t think it’s going to be another year where you’ve got a handful of stocks leading the charge.”
On Tuesday, traders will watch out for March’s manufacturing data alongside February’s job openings and construction spending reports.
