By Johann M Cherian and Pranav Kashyap
(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures fell on Monday as worries persisted that tit-for-tat tariffs could affect the world’s largest economy, while electric-vehicle maker Tesla declined following a bearish brokerage forecast.
At 07:16 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 389 points, or 0.91%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 61 points, or 1.06%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 242 points, or 1.21%.
Mega-cap growth stocks felt the heat. Nvidia fell 1.7% in premarket trading, while Meta and Amazon.com were down more than 1.3% each.
Tesla was down 2.4% after UBS cut its forecast for the automaker’s first-quarter deliveries and lowered its price target on the stock.
Futures tied to the more domestically focused small-cap Russell 2000 index fell 0.9% as investors sought refuge in the safety of Treasury bonds. [US/]
JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America dropped more than 1.4% each. The broader banks index has fallen over 8% so far in March, more than double the decline on the S&P 500.
In an interview on Sunday, President Donald Trump declined to predict whether the U.S. could face a recession, at a time when investors are concerned that his fluctuating trade policies on Mexico, Canada and China could dampen consumer demand and corporate investment.
China’s retaliatory tariffs on select U.S. imports are set to take effect on Monday, with U.S. tariffs on certain base metals anticipated later in the week.
Focus will also be on U.S.-Canada relations. Former central banker Mark Carney won the race to become leader of Canada’s ruling Liberal Party and will succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister.
“Investors are beginning to realize that Trump’s policies might have negative consequences, even for people in the U.S. where the prospect of recession is now being talked up,” said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.
A Reuters poll showed 91% of economists view the odds of a downturn to have increased under Trump’s rapidly shifting trade policies.
The S&P 500 recorded its largest weekly drop since September on Friday, while the Nasdaq fell over 10% from its December high on Thursday.
Since last week, the CBOE Volatility index has been at levels not seen since December.
Data on inflation, job openings and consumer confidence are due later in the week.
On Friday, investors took some comfort from Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments that the economy was on a strong footing, but he also underscored the need for caution on lowering borrowing costs.
The Federal Open Market Committee will convene next week and traders expect policy rates to be left unchanged for the first half of this year, according to data compiled by LSEG.
U.S.-listed Chinese stocks such as Alibaba fell 2.5%, Bilibili lost 3.6% and Xpeng declined 2.3%, after data from China heightened concerns about a recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.
Crypto stocks such as MicroStrategy slid 5.4%, Coinbase dropped 5.1% and Riot declined 4.2%, tracking bitcoin prices.
Airbnb rose 1.8% after Jefferies upgraded the vacation home rental company’s shares to “buy” from “hold”.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
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