U.S. equity futures nudged higher in early Thursday trading, while Treasury yields held earlier gains and gold rallied, as investors reacted to a fresh set of tariffs from President Donald Trump that are likely to add to the market’s unease over growth and earnings prospects heading into the second quarter.
Stocks ended firmly lower on Wednesday, with megacap tech declines dragging the Nasdaq 2.04% lower and the S&P 500 falling 1.12% heading into President Trump’s post-close announcement on auto sector tariffs.
The new 25% levy, slated for April 3, will add to delayed duties on goods from Canada and Mexico, steel and aluminum imports and the so-called ‘reciprocal’ tariffs the President plans to unveil on April 2.
President Trump described the auto sector tariffs as “100% permanent” and claimed they would generated $100 billion a year in annual revenue.Â
Collectively, the additional levies have pushed the average U.S. tariff to the highest levels since the Second World War and have hammered business and consumer confidence was triggering near-term recession concerns.
“Trade policy uncertainty surged to a record high in March, 90% above its 2018-2019 peak,” said EY chief economist Gregory Daco.Â
“Consumer sentiment has plunged across all demographics—age, education, income, wealth, political affiliation, and region—due to policy uncertainty, inflation fears, and labor market concerns,” he added. “And businesses are in wait-and-see mode given that the marginal cost of waiting for policy clarity is essentially zero.”
Related: Stocks reclaim a chunk of March selloff, but next leg tied to earnings
Stocks are wavering again this morning as a result, with declines in European and Asia feeding into a cautious mood on Wall Street, where futures contacts tied to the S&P 500, which is down 4.07% for the month, are priced for a modest opening-bell gain.
Ford Motor (F)  and General Motors (GM)  were both marked deeply in the red, with the former down 3.01% and the latter falling 6.5% in premarket trading. Tesla (TSLA) , meanwhile, which President Trump said would not be affected by the new sector tariffs, was up 0.36%.
Gold futures were back on the march, rising 0.8% to $3,045.70 per ounce in the the wake of yesterday’s tariff announcement, while the U.S. dollar index was marked 0.09% lower at 104.455 against a basket of its global peers.
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In Europe, heavy declines for automakers with big U.S. sales, including Mercedes, BMW and Jeep maker Stellantis, pulled the Stoxx 600 to its lowest level in two weeks, and on pace for its first monthly decline of the year.Â
The benchmark was last seen 0.7% lower in mid-day Frankfurt trading as European officials prepped their own tariff response, while the FTSE 100 was marked 0.69% lower in London following a gloomy economic outlook from Chancellor Rachel Reeves in yesterday’s Spring Budget Statement.
Overnight in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.6%, with automakers Toyota, Nissan and Honda pacing declines, while the regional MSCI ex-Japan benchmark slipped 0.21% into the close of trading.
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