My top 10 things to watch Thursday, April 3 1. Stock markets across the world are tumbling today after President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs were announced last night. On Wall Street, the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 4% in the premarket and the S & P 500 is plunging more than 3%. The blast zone is large. 2. Job cuts in March surged to 275,240 , with most of them coming from federal government workers, the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said today. It’s the highest monthly total since April and May of 2020 during the onset of the Covid pandemic. Weekly jobless claims: 219,000 versus 228,000 expected. The government reports its March employment report tomorrow. 3. Trump announced last night 10% reciprocal tariffs across the board for all imports into the U.S., which will take effect on April 5. Reciprocal levies on dozens upon dozens more countries that the president highlighted, which take effect on April 9, will take the rates much higher on those imports. Additionally, Trump’s previously announced industry tariffs on foreign-made vehicles and auto parts went into effect today. 4. The math behind the numbers: Take the trade deficit with the country and divide it by the exports to us and cut in half and you have the reciprocal tariff rate. That’s according to financial writer and author James Surowiecki . He posted the formula on X — and other media outlets, including CNBC, picked it up. Using Indonesia as an example: $17.9 billion trade deficit; exports to the U.S. total $28 billion. Surowiecki’s math: Take 17.9 and divide it by 28 and you get 0.639. Multiply by 100 to get 64%. Trump said the U.S. reciprocal tariffs would be half. So, Indonesia was hit with 34%. 5. RH has a lot of inventory but shows you that you are not safe if you make it anywhere but the U.S. Not sure how much stress to that balance sheet there is? Many Wall Street research firms, including Citi, cut their price targets on the luxury home furnishings maker. Citi analysts also downgraded the stock to neutral from buy. The stock is down more than 30% this morning. 6. Citi upgraded Ross Stores and Club name TJX Companies to buy ratings from neutral, arguing the “significant disruption” likely caused by tariffs will help the off-price retailers pick up more quality merchandise for their stores. We’ve owned and loved TJX for years. 7. Bank of America modestly cut its price target on BlackRock to $1,178 a share, but kept its buy rating on the Club stock. Still, analysts said stock market woes are a risk to fees and fund flows for asset managers. JPMorgan reduced its PTs on Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs , expressing concerns on tariffs’ impact to economic activity. 8. Club name Apple’s price target at BofA was reduced to $250 a share from $265, with analysts noting that the iPhone maker is exposed to the tariffs placed on China, Vietnam and India. If the duties are left in place and Apple absorbs the costs, analysts estimate a more than $1 hit to EPS in calendar 2026. The stock lost almost 8% this morning. 9. Dell Technologies , which is on our stock watchlist for the Club, is among the tech hardware companies with the most exposure to the “calamitous” tariffs, analysts at Morgan Stanley warned. Shares of Dell were down nearly 9% this morning. 10. Amazon would see numerous benefits from acquiring TikTok, according to Citigroup, including both product discovery improvements and an advertising boost. As we wrote yesterday , TikTok would be nice for Amazon to have but don’t buy the stock betting this deal will happen. Sign up for my Top 10 Morning Thoughts on the Market email newsletter for free (See here for a full list of the stocks at Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order, on the day he delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 2025.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
My top 10 things to watch Thursday, April 3
1. Stock markets across the world are tumbling today after President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs were announced last night. On Wall Street, the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 4% in the premarket and the S&P 500 is plunging more than 3%. The blast zone is large.
2. Job cuts in March surged to 275,240, with most of them coming from federal government workers, the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said today. It’s the highest monthly total since April and May of 2020 during the onset of the Covid pandemic. Weekly jobless claims: 219,000 versus 228,000 expected. The government reports its March employment report tomorrow.
3. Trump announced last night 10% reciprocal tariffs across the board for all imports into the U.S., which will take effect on April 5. Reciprocal levies on dozens upon dozens more countries that the president highlighted, which take effect on April 9, will take the rates much higher on those imports. Additionally, Trump’s previously announced industry tariffs on foreign-made vehicles and auto parts went into effect today.
