Wall Street was braced on Sunday for significant losses at the start of the week over US President Donald Trumpโs punishing tariffs on exports to the United States, as oil prices plummeted even with countries seeking compromise.
The Republican has remained defiant since unleashing the blitz of tariffs on stunned nations around the world Wednesday, insisting that his policies โwill never changeโ even as markets went into a tailspin.
Futures contracts for the New York Stock Exchangeโs main boards were sharply down on Sunday, suggesting more pain for battered Wall Street stocks when markets open on Monday, while US oil dropped below US$60 a barrel for the first time since April 2021.
A little over half an hour after the contracts resumed trading at 2200 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.56 per cent, while the broader S&P 500 index was down 3.85 per cent.
Trump said on Sunday the violent falls in US and global markets showed the โmedicineโ of his trade tariff barrage was working.
โSometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,โ Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from a weekend of golfing in Florida, adding that trade partners are โcoming to the tableโ and โwant to talkโ.