US stock futures plunged Sunday evening, setting up Wall Street for another bruising day on Monday as markets braced for more fallout from President Trump’s fast-moving tariff policy.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 (ES=F) plummeted over 3%, while those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq (NQ=F) lost 4%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) sank 2.5%, or around 1,000 points. Oil prices also dropped more than 3%, tumbling below $60 per barrel for the first time since 2021.
Wall Street is coming off its worst week since the advent of the pandemic, shedding over $5 trillion in value as Trump’s plans to impose heavy tariffs on all US trading partners led to a sell-off of epic proportions. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) entered into a bear market on Friday, more than 20% off its most recent highs, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) moved closer to that threshold. The Dow (^DJI) closed in correction territory.
Trump has shown little sign of wavering in the face of Wall Street’s panic and international reactions. China already announced retaliatory tariffs, and the EU is readying countermeasures. The US’s new baseline 10% duties on most trading partners went into effect over the weekend, and the additional tariffs that Trump announced on so-called “bad actors” are set to be enacted beginning on Wednesday.
Administration officials defended Trump’s plans during appearances on Sunday talk shows. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rejected the assertion that the tariffs could send the US economy into recession. JPMorgan on Friday became the first big US bank to project a recession later this year, as forecasters have in just days scrambled projections of a solid growth trajectory for the US economy.
Bessent, along with top economic adviser Kevin Hassett, claimed that more than 50 countries have reached out to begin negotiations, raising questions about logistical challenges with the tariffs set to go in place this week. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the tariffs would “definitely going to stay in place for days and weeks.”
Trump, for his part, showed no signs of backing down, saying late Sunday that markets may have to “take medicine.” He added that he was not intentionally trying to crash equities.