By Gunjan Banerji

That wasn't the speech stock traders were hoping for.

Stock futures staged a U-turn during President Trump's speech in the Rose Garden, erasing earlier gains and falling sharply.

Heading into the announcement, investors had waded into stocks in a bid that Trump's speech would bring clarity and stability to markets. Instead, the tariff announcements were worse than many feared. Trump held up a chart of tariffs outlining some of the larger rates he will charge nations, alarming some investors who were hoping the tariffs wouldn't be so severe.

"It was pretty shocking," said Danny Kirsch, head of options at Piper Sandler. "This is much higher than the market expected."

Kirsch said that some clients were turning to insurance-like contracts tied to the S&P 500 in afterhours trading, a bet that volatility would continue.

Futures tied to the Russell 2000 index of small companies were down almost 4%, while those tied to the S&P 500 slumped 2.2%.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 02, 2025 17:17 ET (21:17 GMT)

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