| Wall Street trading desks disagree on many things, but there’s one view they now seem to share: President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement is likely to worsen the selloff in the S&P 500 Index, at least in the near term. Firms including Goldman Sachs and Bank of America see the trade measures raising stock-market volatility and deepening the slide in the benchmark gauge, which just came off its worst quarter since 2022. Trading desks, which analyze the flow of funds from institutional and retail investors to predict the market’s next move, are fretting that Trump’s trade war can cut into earnings and destabilize supply chains. Stocks surged in the weeks after Trump’s election victory, with investors cheering his plans to slash taxes and regulations, while largely dismissing tariff threats as a negotiating tactic. Now, with the S&P 500 down 8.3% from its Feb. 19 record, the mood has changed. “The bearish calls are getting louder across the floor and client base,” Goldman Sachs’ trading desk wrote in a note last week, pointing to a level of expected volatility this week that’s comparable to the US election in November. JPMorgan Chase’s trading desk remains tactically bearish on stocks, citing policy uncertainty and the potential impact of tariffs on the economy. At Barclays, global head of equities tactical strategies Alexander Altmann said his main concern is that Trump’s announcement will leave room for interpretation, keeping trade policy in flux. “Uncertainty is the killer of everything in markets,” he told Bloomberg News. “It kills investment decisions, corporate spending, as well as business and consumer confidence.” Several desks warn that the S&P 500, sitting at about 5,600, has room to fall further. Bank of America’s John Tully said the US benchmark could drop below 5,500, while a recent note from UBS said the stock gauge could sink to 5,400 if the White House implements 20% tariffs. —Natalia Kniazhevich | 
