Markets tumble again as Trump tariffs spark fears of ‘economic nuclear war’

Those hoping that the stock market pain from President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements last week was over are in for a rude awakening this morning. As of the time of this writing, stock markets across the world have gotten hammered, adding to fears of a new so-called “economic nuclear war.” Here’s what you need to know about the latest developments in Trump’s tariff trade war and how the markets are reacting.

Bill Ackman: Trump tariffs are “economic nuclear war”

One of the most headline-grabbing pieces of news related to the ongoing stock market crash is comments from billionaire hedge fund manager and Trump supporter Bill Ackman. Yesterday, Ackman took to X to warn that Trump’s tariffs, the worst of which are scheduled to go into effect this Wednesday, April 9, are equivalent to “economic nuclear war.” 

In a post on X, Ackman said that the tariffs on America’s allies and enemies across the globe mean America is “in the process of destroying confidence in our country as a trading partner, as a place to do business, and as a market to invest capital.”

Ackman suggested that Trump should “call a 90-day time out” on the tariffs so the administration can negotiate with its trading partners. 

However, Ackman warned, “If, on the other hand, on April 9th we launch economic nuclear war on every country in the world, business investment will grind to a halt, consumers will close their wallets and pocket books, and we will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate.”

Will Trump and his administration heed Ackman’s advice? That’s unknown. But they certainly didn’t seem to have similar thoughts over the weekend, when Trump’s administration spent much of the time doubling down on the tariffs that are currently sinking Americans’ retirement savings and already raising the prices American consumers pay for goods.

In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, President Trump boasted that many of the tariffs “are already in effect, and a beautiful thing to behold.” Trump went on to proclaim that “Some day people will realize that Tariffs, for the United States of America, are a very beautiful thing!”

Markets plunge around the world—again

However, outside of Trump and his administration, it’s unlikely that many Americans feel that the tariffs are “a beautiful thing to behold”—at least if they have a 401(k) pension or other retirement plans. That’s because, as of the time of this writing, stock markets around the world are crashing yet again, following major crashes on Thursday and Friday of last week—the two trading days after Trump announced his tariffs on April 2.

Today, the third trading day after Trump’s tariff announcement, markets in Asia and Europe have already plummeted, according to data from Yahoo Finance. In Japan, the country’s Nikkei 225 stock market fell 7.83% on Monday, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell a staggering 13.22%. Shanghai’s SSE Composite Index fell 7.34%.

European markets are currently in the middle of their trading day and are also getting hit hard. The United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 is currently down 3.62% as of the time of this writing. France’s CAC 40 is down 3.92%, and Germany’s DAX Performance Index is down 3.66%.

American stock markets are also down in pre-market trading, suggesting that U.S. markets are in for another rough session when they open at 9:30 a.m. ET. 

• S&P 500 Futures: down 1.79%
• Dow Futures: down 1.93%
• Nasdaq Futures: down 1.95%

Big Tech and Big Retail sink—again

Given that S&P, Dow, and Nasdaq futures are all down as of the time of this writing, it should come as little surprise that major U.S. tech companies and retailers are also seeing their shares sink for the third trading day in a row after Trump’s tariffs were announced.

Many U.S. tech companies and most U.S. retailers rely on products, parts, or components that come from Asia, which is the region of the world hit hardest by Trump’s tariffs. Here is how major tech companies are currently trading as of the time of this writing in pre-market trading:

• Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG): down 1.48%
• Amazon.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN): down 2.09%
• Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL): down 2.75%
• Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META): down 2.24%
• Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT): down 1.61%
• NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA): down 3.39%
• Shopify Inc. (Nasdaq: SHOP): down 5.55%
• Tesla, Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA): down 4.84%

And here is how major U.S. retailers are currently trading in pre-market:

• RH (NYSE: RH): down 0.47%
• V.F. Corporation (NYSE: VFC): down 4.93%
• Five Below, Inc. (Nasdaq: FIVE): down 2.11%
• Wayfair Inc. (NYSE: W): down 4.91%
• SharkNinja, Inc. (NYSE: SN): down 1.56%
• Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT): down 1.02%
• Costco Wholesale Corporation (Nasdaq: COST): down 0.96%
• Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT): down 2.21%

While many of these stocks are seeing low double-digit drops in pre-market this morning, keep in mind that most were hammered much, much harder last Thursday and Friday. 

Now cryptocurrencies are crashing, too

But it’s not just stock markets and individual stocks that are falling today. Now cryptocurrencies are being hit fairly hard, too. As of the time of this writing, major digital assets are down, including:

• Bitcoin: down 6.79% to $77,141.06
• Ethereum: down 16.28% to $1,495.82
• Solana: down 15.12% to $100.89
• Dogecoin: down 14.85% to $0.1398
• Official Trump: down 14.4% to $7.69

Banks say the odds of a global recession are increasing

Finally, it should be noted that now a second major investment bank has come out to say that, due to Trump’s tariffs, the odds of a new global recession are increasing.

Last week, J.P.Morgan upped the odds of a global recession due to Trump’s tariffs to 60% (up from 40% before the tariffs were announced). 

Now, Goldman Sachs has also raised its odds. Pre-Trump tariffs, Goldman Sachs said that there was a 35% chance of a recession. Now Goldman Sachs says that the chance has jumped to 45%, notes Reuters.