According to Xinhua News Agency, US President Trump signed two executive orders on so-called "reciprocal tariffs" at the White House, announcing that the United States would establish a 10% "minimum benchmark tariff" on its trading partners and impose higher tariffs on certain trading partners.

As the policy intensity far exceeded expectations, S&P futures plummeted 2.2% after the market on Wednesday, with technology stocks hit harder, with Apple falling as much as 6.1%.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said:

"Trump just concluded his tariff speech at the White House, which we believe is 'worse than the market's worst fears.'"

Brad Bechtel, head of foreign exchange at Jefferies, also said:

“It’s certainly a lot more radical than people expected. It’s a bigger doom loop for the rest of the world.”

Market volatility may continue, pay attention to subsequent corporate earnings expectations

Most people on Wall Street remain neutral, believing that it will take some time for the impact of "reciprocal tariffs" to become apparent after they are implemented, and market fluctuations may continue.

Bloomberg strategist Michael Ball said:

“The initial level of reciprocal tariffs is higher than expected, which will keep uncertainty and volatility elevated for some time. Much remains to be determined, but initial reactions to Trump’s tariff announcement suggest a more stagflationary outlook ahead. ”

Regardless, the announcement means volatility will continue, said Venu Krishna, head of U.S. equity strategy at Barclays. In the wake of tariffs, questions remain about retaliation from trading partners, rising inflation, shrinking consumer spending and falling industrial production.

Max Gokhman, deputy chief investment officer at Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions, said:

“ The big question is whether countries can escape the onslaught of reciprocal tariffs as easily as they have in the past. If not, and a true trade war engulfs the world, then stagflation seems likely, leaving only hurt losers.”

“However, given that this remains a significant unknown, we are not changing our stance for now, which remains neutral across regions and sectors.”

There are also more pessimistic views, believing that tariff policies are bad for the economy and that US stocks face greater downward pressure.

Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, said:

“I think we may see a reassessment of recession probabilities soon. I would not be surprised at all if we saw those probabilities go up. ”

“At the very least, we will see further downward pressure on corporate profitability expectations through 2025. The path of least resistance for earnings from here on out is to fall significantly.”

Marko Papic, chief strategist at BCA Research, bluntly stated that U.S. stocks "clearly have more room to fall in the future," and he bet that U.S. stocks may eventually fall another 10%.

Adam Hetts, global multi-asset head at Janus Henderson Investors, believes that "reciprocal tariffs" leave room for negotiations, but also lay the groundwork for more pain and uncertainty.

"Imposing eye-popping tariffs on a country-by-country basis is clearly a 'negotiation tactic' that will keep markets on edge for the foreseeable future. "

“We’ve seen the government’s tolerance for market volatility be surprisingly high, and the big question now is how much tolerance it will have for real economic pain as the negotiations unfold.”

Columbia Threadneedle’s interest rate strategists said:

“Ultimately, it’s a tax policy — who’s going to pay that tax is uncertain — but I don’t think you can view it as growth-positive in any way. In the short term, it’s negative for growth and positive for inflation. ”

Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co., said:

“The last-minute relief that some investors were hoping for has not occurred recently. Therefore, the Trump administration does not seem to be concerned about the short-term impact of these tariff policies on the market.”

“This means that earnings expectations will be in the spotlight in the coming weeks. If earnings expectations continue to fall, the stock market will face greater headwinds.”

There is still room for negotiation, which may create buying opportunities

Some on Wall Street remain cautiously optimistic.

Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management, said:

“If there is a silver lining, which remains to be seen, it is that these tariff rates are just the beginning of negotiations that will ultimately lead to lower tariff rates across the board. ”

Steve Chiavarone, head of the multi-asset group at Federated Hermes, also believes:

“If today’s announcement is the most severe level of tariffs yet — and the next news flow is about how countries are negotiating to reduce tariffs — that could be bullish for the market. That could cause enough selling over the next day or so to create a buying opportunity. ”

Jason Browne, president of Alexis Investment Partners, an investment advisory firm in Texas, said that if the market can stabilize and rebound and break through 5,750 points on Thursday, it will support the view that "the worst stage of the correction is over." He believes that Wednesday's sell-off means that it is already the "highest stage" of uncertainty.

Barclays’ Krishna remains positive on big tech stocks, arguing that price-to-earnings ratios for Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia have fallen 25% to about 24 times from their recent peak of 32 times, making the sector an ideal safe haven.

Arnim Holzer, global macro strategist at Easterly EAB Risk Solutions, said:

“We are wary of strategies that are completely risk-averse or move to cash, which would limit future growth participation.”