US OPEN: Markets open lower on Monday as tariff uncertainty persists

• CEO Jamie Dimon warned that tariffs will "increase inflation and boost the probability of a recession" in his annual shareholder letter.

• Apple (AAPL.US) saw its price target cut from $325 to $250 at Wedbush, with analyst Daniel Ives calling Trump's tariffs "a complete disaster for Apple given its massive China production exposure."

• Microsoft (MSFT.US) joint venture Wicresoft will cease operations in China effective Tuesday, resulting in approximately 2,000 layoffs, according to Chinese media outlet Caijing.

• Meta Platforms (META.US) announced the release of its new Llama 4 artificial intelligence models, built on what the company describes as "one of the world's most advanced large language models."

Major US index futures are showing significant declines following President Trump's sweeping tariff announcement. The Russell 2000 (US2000) is down -4.11% to 1762.0, while the S&P 500 (US500) is down -3.86% to 16859.45. Nasdaq futures (US100) are showing a decline of -3.78% to 4916.2, and the Dow (US30) is down -3.67% to 37114. The VIX volatility index has surged +10.69% to 35.73, indicating sharply increased market uncertainty as investors react to the new tariff regime.

European markets are experiencing much steeper losses than initially reported, with most indices deep in the red. Spain's IBEX 35 (SPA35) has fallen -4.97% to 11739, while Italy's FTSE MIB (ITA40) has dropped -4.59% to 31925. Switzerland's SMI (SUI20) has declined -4.35% to 10874, and the Netherlands' AEX (NED25) is down -4.14% to 797.52. The Euro Stoxx 50 (EU50) has fallen -4.03% to 4567.6, France's CAC 40 (FRA40) is down -3.94% to 6928.2, and the UK's FTSE 100 (UK100) shows a decline of -3.74% to 7666.5. Austria's ATX (AUT20) has dropped -3.27% to 3457, while Germany's DAX (DE40) is down -3.25% to 19864.4. The Warsaw Stock Exchange (W20) shows a decline of -2.20% to 2404.6. The VSTOXX European volatility index has skyrocketed +15.15% to 35.58, reflecting severe market anxiety across the continent, where exporters are particularly vulnerable to the new US tariff policy.

S&P 500 Sectors Show Mixed Performance. Source: Bloomberg Financial LP

Current volatility observed on Wall Street. Source: xStation 

The Nasdaq 100, represented by US100, has broken below recent lows at 17,176, which marked the April low. Bulls need to reclaim this level to prevent further downside, while bears will aim for a break below the December 2023 low at 16,445 — a move that could open the path to even lower levels. The next key bearish target may be the October 2023 low, when US100 was trading around the 14,190 level. The RSI is currently at its lowest levels in recent years, signaling extreme weakness. Source: xStation 

Market News Updates

• Tesla (TSLA.US) plunged over 10% to $214.80 in early trading Monday, dropping below the $235.86 price that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had previously called a floor, saying "it'll never be this cheap again." The steep decline comes as Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives slashed his price target by more than 40%, citing Trump's trade policies and brand damage from CEO Elon Musk's political controversies. Tesla shares have now fallen 50% from their mid-December peak, with JPMorgan analysts suggesting they may have "underestimated the degree of consumer reaction and unprecedented brand damage."

• Strategy Inc. (MSTR.US), the largest Bitcoin treasury company, reported a staggering $5.91 billion unrealized loss on digital assets for Q1 2025, warning it "may not be able to regain profitability in future periods." The company faces $2.28 billion in tax liabilities from previous unrealized gains and holds $8.22 billion in outstanding debt with $35.1 million in annual interest expenses. Strategy's stock fell 8.5% in premarket trading as Bitcoin dropped below $80,000, compounding concerns about its ability to meet financial obligations as its enterprise analytics software business "has not generated positive cash flow from operations in recent periods."

• JPMorgan Chase (JPM.US) CEO Jamie Dimon warned that tariffs will "increase inflation and boost the probability of a recession" in his annual shareholder letter. Without directly naming President Trump, Dimon urged a quick resolution to trade tensions, stating that "America First is fine, as long as it doesn't end up being America alone." JPMorgan's stock fell 1.8% in premarket trading Monday after tumbling 14.5% over the previous two sessions. The bank's forecasters recently raised their recession probability to 60% following Trump's tariff announcement and China's retaliatory measures.

• Apple (AAPL.US) saw its price target cut from $325 to $250 at Wedbush, with analyst Daniel Ives calling Trump's tariffs "a complete disaster for Apple given its massive China production exposure." The firm warned that "the current tariff slate with China at 54% and Taiwan at 32% would be devastating to Apple, its cost structure, and ultimately consumer demand," though Wedbush maintained its Outperform rating based on Apple's strong free cash flow and Services business. The stock was down 2.7% in premarket trading.

• Microsoft (MSFT.US) joint venture Wicresoft will cease operations in China effective Tuesday, resulting in approximately 2,000 layoffs, according to Chinese media outlet Caijing. The move aligns with Microsoft's decision to stop outsourcing after-sales support in China to Wicresoft, raising questions about how the tech giant will service China-based users of its Windows and Office products. This pullback comes amid growing political and trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, and follows Microsoft's earlier closure of a Shanghai lab focused on IoT and AI technologies.

• Meta Platforms (META.US) announced the release of its new Llama 4 artificial intelligence models, built on what the company describes as "one of the world's most advanced large language models." The Llama 4 family includes the two-trillion-parameter Llama 4 Behemoth (still in training) and two immediate releases named Maverick and Scout. Meta claims benchmark scores put these natively multimodal models ahead of well-known competitors including DeepSeek, OpenAI, and Google. The announcement comes amid an AI arms race between US firms and China's tech sector, with recent accelerated releases from Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu.

• Moderna (MRNA.US) is set to present a series of scientific studies at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Global Congress in Vienna from April 11-15. The biotech company will deliver three oral presentations and showcase eight posters and one e-poster focusing on the immunogenicity and safety of their mRNA vaccine candidates, including studies on vaccines for COVID-19 variants, RSV, mpox, and other infectious diseases. The presentations will include data on the company's mRNA-1345 RSV vaccine candidate and interim analysis results from a Phase 1/2 trial for an mRNA mpox vaccine.

Other news coming from individual S&P 500 index companies. Source: Bloomberg Financial LP