Updates to mid-afternoon pricing

By David French

March 31 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq declined on Monday, with technology stocks among the largest fallers, as investors took a cautious approach to U.S. equity markets ahead of the Trump administration's upcoming tariff plans being announced.

Global stocks tumbled, gold prices scaled new highs and U.S. government bonds climbed after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that expected tariffs he is set to announce on Wednesday will include all nations.

He has already imposed tariffs on aluminum, steel and autos, along with increased tariffs on goods from China.

"I think (April 2) might mark peak policy uncertainty, but I don't think it's going to mean that tariff uncertainty is going away," said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial.

U.S. stock markets have sold off this year as the Trump administration's tariff policies raised fears of a global trade war that would hurt economic growth and spur inflation.

The three major U.S. indexes are on track for sharp monthly and quarterly losses, with the S&P 500 .SPX and the tech-centric Nasdaq .IXIC poised for their steepest quarterly drops in three years.

While these falls have been significant, LPL's Turnquist said the S&P 500 was finding resistance around its March 13 closing low, which alongside broader economic data remaining steady, provided encouragement we may be approaching the bottom.

"For the intermediate and longer term investors, there are some more signs which we are looking for, but certainly holding those March lows is a big piece of evidence that, maybe, the worst is behind us," he added.

By 1:53 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI had ticked up 95.67 points, or 0.23%, to 41,679.57, helped by gains by Walmart WMT.N and Home Depot HD.N.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 .SPX was lower by 21.04 points, or 0.38%, to 5,559.90 points, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC had dropped 203.78 points, or 1.18%, to 17,119.21.

Tech stocks were the worst hit, with Nvidia NVDA.O falling 3.4% and Microsoft MSFT.O down 2.1%, as investors worried about companies' spending plans for artificial intelligence.

Tesla TSLA.O fell 3.6% after investment bank Stifel lowered the electric-vehicle maker's delivery forecast ahead of Wednesday's first-quarter report.

The S&P 500 consumer staples sector .SPLRCS, often considered a safe haven within stock markets, rose 1.1%, while the energy index .SPNY advanced 0.7%, tracking a jump in crude prices.

The domestically focused Russell 2000 Index .RUT was down 1.2%.

The CBOE Volatility Index .VIX, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, jumped to a two-week high of 22.66 points.

As a result of tariff uncertainties, Goldman Sachs raised the probability of a U.S. recession to 35% from 20%, cut its year-end target for the S&P 500 to 5,700, and forecast more interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

Focus this week will also be on economic data, including ISM business activity surveys and the crucial non-farm payrolls report. Also due this week are speeches from several U.S. central bank officials, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Drugmakers' shares slid after reports the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's top vaccine official had been forced to resign. Moderna MRNA.O dropped 9.3%, while Pfizer PFE.N fell 1.2%.

Gene therapy companies Taysha Gene Therapies TSHA.O and Solid Biosciences SLDB.O fell 31.3% and 15.5%, respectively.

In deals news, Rocket Companies RKT.N was down 9.6%, on track for its lowest finish in seven weeks, after the mortgage lender said it agreed to a $9.4 billion acquisition of Mr Cooper Group COOP.O. The announcement, though, sent the mortgage servicer's stock up 14%.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar, Pranav Kashyap and Medha Singh in Bengaluru and David French in New York; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Aurora Ellis)

((sruthi.shankar@thomsonreuters.com))