Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Plummet as Investors React to Trump Tariff News; Dow Poised
April 3, 2025
Treasury Yields Approach 6-Month Low 56 minutes ago Treasury yields tumbled on Thursday to nearly a 6-month low, a day after President Trump announced sweeping tariffs that shook stock markets around the world.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, tumbled Thursday morning to as low as 4.00%, down from 4.20% late yesterday and at its lowest level since mid-October. The bond rally—when bond prices go up, yields fall—came amid a global stock sell-off that put the S&P 500 down more than 4% in late-morning trading.
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Trump on Wednesday afternoon announced a 10% flat rate tariff on nearly all U.S. imports, as well as steeper country-level rates aimed at America’s largest trading partners, including China, the European Union, and Japan. The tariffs, Trump says, are meant to raise federal revenue and revive American manufacturing.
Economists warn the levies could have unintended consequences, including higher prices for businesses and consumers, lower domestic investment, and softer consumer spending, all of which would slow the economy.
Trump campaigned on lower interest rates, and since returning to the White House has repeatedly called on the Federal Reserve to cut rates. The 10-year Treasury yield has declined since Trump’s inauguration, but not for the reason he might like.
Trump’s tariffs and government cost-cutting initiative have raised the risk of the U.S. entering a recession, an outcome that could force the Federal Reserve to intervene by lowering its federal funds rate. His policies have also rattled financial markets, sending investors into traditional safe-haven assets like Treasurys and gold, which has notched a series of record highs amid this year’s market turmoil.
Lower Treasury yields tend to translate into lower consumer rates on products like mortgages and car loans, which have been hovering at multi-decade highs ever since the Federal Reserve began raising rates in March 2022 to tame surging inflation.
However, Trump’s tariffs threaten to slow economic growth and stoke inflation, raising concerns that the U.S. is on a collision course with 1970s-style stagflation, a scenario in which the Fed may not have much leeway to cut rates and stimulate the economy.
Coca-Cola, General Mills Lift Staples Amid Broader Selloff1 hr 36 min ago Stock-market investors are playing defense today.
The major U.S. indexes are in retreat Thursday morning following Donald Trump’s announcement of wide-ranging tariffs, with all but one of the S&P 500’s 11 sectors in the red. The sole exception is the consumer staples sector, considered defensive in nature.
Consumer staples stocks are broadly rising, including Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Procter & Gamble (PG), and frozen potato company Lamb Weston (LW), the latter which is among the morning’s top gainers in the benchmark index, rising nearly 8% after reporting results.
Some other big consumer-oriented brands are rising today, including McDonald’s (MCD) and Coca-Cola (KO), as well as grocer Kroger (KR), and cereal maker General Mills (GIS). Walmart’s (WMT) shares ticked lower.
Meanwhile, discretionary and tech shares are dropping, the former sector retreating more than 5% in recent action. Among the index’s top decliners today are housewares company Williams Sonoma (WSM), consumer electronics retailer Best Buy (BBY) and game and toy company Hasbro (HAS).
–David Marino-Nachison
Watch These QQQ Levels as Nasdaq 100 Fund Slides2 hr 11 min ago The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the Nasdaq 100 index, plunged early Thursday after President Trump imposed sweeping reciprocal tariffs yesterday.
The fund’s top three holdings—iPhone maker Apple (AAPL), software giant Microsoft (MSFT), and AI favorite Nvidia (NVDA)—all suffered steep after the tariffs were announced. Investors worry the new duties may inflate manufacturing costs and consumer prices, both of which could weigh on corporate profits.
Prior to today’s slide, the QQQ fund had tumbled 7% since the start of the year amid concerns over tariff uncertainty, significant AI spending and moderating Big Tech earnings. The QQQ was down more 4% at around $426 in recent trading. Source: TradingView.com.
Since setting its record high in mid-February, the QQQ fund has trended sharply lower, forming a classic double top pattern in the process. Importantly, increasing trading volume has accompanied the move lower, indicating active selling by index-tracking market participants like institutional investors and pension funds.
Earlier this week, the fund’s price slumped beneath the mid-March low before staging an intraday reversal to close above that closely watched level. However, the recent bullish momentum has hit a road block.
Investors should watch key support levels on QQQ’s chart around $448 and $430, while also monitoring vital resistance levels near $503 and $537.
Read the full technical analysis piece here.
–Timothy Smith
Nike Tumbles as Tariffs Hit Asian Suppliers2 hr 42 min ago Nike (NKE) shares plunged in early trading after President Donald Trump imposed steep reciprocal tariffs on Vietnam and other Asian countries where the sneaker giant makes most of its products.
The U.S. imposed a 46% tariff on Vietnamese goods, 32% on Indonesia, and 49% on Cambodia. President Trump also announced 34% levies on imports from China in addition to previously imposed 20% tariffs on goods from Asia’s largest economy.
According to its fiscal 2024 annual report, factories in Vietnam, Indonesia, and China manufactured approximately 50%, 27%, and 18% of its footwear, respectively, while factories in Vietnam, China, and Cambodia made 28%, 16%, and 15% of apparel.
“Potential incremental Vietnam tariffs appear under-appreciated by investors, & could prove a notable headwind given significant sourcing exposure across our coverage,” Morgan Stanley analyst Alex Straton recently wrote, noting that apart from Nike, sneaker companies Allbirds (BIRD), Skechers (SKX) and On Holding (ONON) are “potentially most exposed” from levies imposed on the Southeast Asian country.
Nike shares were down 11% in early trading, while On Holding, Skechers, and Allbirds each dropped more than 12%.
–Nisha Gopalan
Retailer Stocks Hammered by News on Tariffs3 hr 32 min ago Shares of Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT) and other retailers sank in premarket trading Thursday after the Trump administration announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs against U.S. trading partners.
Shares of Best Buy (BBY), Dollar Tree (DLTR), Dollar General (DG), Costco Wholesale (COST), Five Below (FIVE), and Macy’s (M) also lost ground amid a broader market decline, with Dollar Tree and Best Buy shares down over 12%, and Five Below shares tumbling 19%.
A number of retailers, includingTarget and Best Buy, have previously warned that such tariffs could negatively impact their profit margins unless they and their suppliers raise prices.
Amid uncertainty about the impact tariffs will have on the economy, The National Retail Federation on Wednesday projected retail spending growth could slow in 2025.
Several economists warned after Wednesday’s announcement that the higher-than-expected tariff rates could lead to higher prices, while some suggested that the April 9 deadline leaves time for negotiations.
–Aaron McDade
Watch These Apple Levels as Stock Plunges on Tariff News4 hr 4 min ago Apple (AAPL) shares tumbled in premarket trading after President Trump unveiled sweeping reciprocal tariffs, including a steep 34% import tax on China, the country where the company manufactures about 90% of its iPhones.
Not only could Washington’s tariffs raise the price of the tech giant’s devices imported into the U.S., but they may also slow sales in China, Apple’s second largest market, should Beijing impose retaliatory levies on U.S. companies operating in the country.
As of Wednesday’s close, Apple shares trade down a little over 10% since the start of the year and 14% below their record high set in December, in part over uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration’s trade policies. The stock was down more than 7% to around $207 before the opening bell on Thursday. Source: TradingView.com.
Since setting their record high in late December, Apple shares have trended lower within a descending channel. More recently, the stock attracted buying interest near the pattern’s lower trendline, though the relative strength index (RSI) has failed to reclaim the 50 threshold despite the upswing, indicating weak buying momentum.
It’s also worth pointing out the 50-day moving average (MA) sits poised to cross below the 200-day MA to form an ominous death cross—a chart pattern that signals the start of a new move lower. Indeed, the shares look set to test the descending channel’s lower trendline in early trading on Thursday.
Investors should watch major support levels on Apple’s chart around $207 and $197, while also monitoring important resistance levels near $237 and $247.
Read the full technical analysis piece here.
–Timothy Smith
Major Stock Indexes Poised to Open Sharply Lower4 hr 41 min ago Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 3%, or more than 1,200 points.
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S&P 500 futures were off 3.6%.
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Nasdaq 100 futures tumbled 4%.
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