Trump Tariff Trauma Being Played to the Hilt by Wall Street Sharps; Gold Continues Record-Breaking Streak; JOLTS Due 10 AM

Monday's day-long buying spree - after futures sent the majors to lows of the day just after the open - was largely the result of momentum traders playing 0DTE (Zero Days to Expiration) options and dumb money piling in to pump the market in what can only be considered a prototypical bear market rally.

The Dow round-tripped to the tune of 900 points from the morning lows into the goosed-up close for a neat one percent gain. The S&P and NYSE Composite followed the same pattern, while the NASDAQ, which was down nearly 470 points before 10:00 am ET, didn't quite make it to positive ground, but it wasn't for lack of effort, closing down a mere 23 points.

Call Monday's trading the pump part of the pump-and-dump, because Tuesday (and probably Wednesday) is going to start off pretty darn ugly. Sooner or later - with Trump's tariffs set to launch on Wednesday, the markets are likely to resume their downward trajectory. Today could be a capitulation-like event, as there aren't many traders keen on holding overnight into Wednesday's tariff reveal, especially after the Washington Post ran a story Tuesday morning citing Trump officials saying that 20% across-the-board tariffs could be unleashed April 2nd.

Trump, admittedly a "superstitious guy", didn't want to start off his tariff tsunami on April Fool's Day, purposely pushing back the timing to April 2nd. That seems to have been right up Wall Street's alley, giving the sharpies an additional day of game-playing with people's retirement and speculation accounts.

With the opening bell due to ring within minutes, stock futures are bouncing off the morning lows. Dow futures: -158; NASDAQ futures: -51; S&P futures: -14.

Meanwhile, gold continues to ramp higher, hitting another in a series of all-time highs overnight into the U.S. AM, hitting a high of $3,176 on the COMEX. Silver is still struggling with $35 on the COMEX, with spot prices hanging in the high $33 range.

The March JOLTS survey is due out at 10:00 am ET.

Let's get ready to rumble, fools!

At the Close, Monday, March 31, 2025:
Dow: 42,001.76, +417.86 (+1.00%)
NASDAQ: 17,299.29, -23.70 (-0.14%)
S&P 500: 5,611.85, +30.91 (+0.55%)
NYSE Composite: 19,395.86, +125.56 (+0.65%)