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Futures off: Dow 0.70%, S&P 500 0.84%, Nasdaq 0.98%

March 10 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell on

Monday as worries persisted that the Trump administration's

tariff policies could affect the world's largest economy, while

EV maker Tesla declined following a bearish brokerage forecast.

At 05:43 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 299 points,

or 0.7%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 48.75 points, or

0.84%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 198.5 points, or

0.98%.

Megacap growth stock Nvidia ( NVDA ) lost 2% in premarket

trading, while Meta and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) dropped

more than 1.3% each.

Tesla fell 2.6% after brokerage UBS lowered its

forecast for the automaker's first-quarter deliveries and cut

its price target on the stock.

Futures tracking the more domestically focused smallcaps

Russell 2000 index declined 0.9%, while investors flocked

to safe-haven Treasury bonds.

In an interview on Sunday, President Donald Trump declined

to predict whether the U.S. could face a recession, at a time

when investors are concerned that his fluctuating trade policies

on Mexico, Canada and China could dampen consumer demand and

corporate investment.

China's retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. imports will take

effect on Monday and U.S. tariffs on some base metals are

expected to take effect later in the week.

Investors will also monitor U.S.-Canada relations. Former

central banker Mark Carney won the race to become leader of

Canada's ruling Liberal Party and will succeed Justin Trudeau as

prime minister, according to official results.

A Reuters poll found 91% of economists view the odds of a

downturn to have increased under Trump's rapidly shifting trade

policies.

Amid this uncertainty, the benchmark S&P 500 logged

its biggest weekly drop since September on Friday and the

tech-heavy Nasdaq fell more than 10% from its December

record high on Thursday. Since last week, the CBOE Volatility

index has been at levels not seen since December.

Data on inflation, job openings and consumer confidence are

due later in the week. The numbers could offer insights into the

health of the economy and the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary

policy path.

On Friday, investors took some comfort from Fed Chair Jerome

Powell's comments that the economy was on a strong footing, but

he also underscored the need for caution on lowering borrowing

costs.

The Federal Open Market Committee will convene next week and

traders expect policy rates to be left unchanged for the first

half of this year, according to data compiled by LSEG.

U.S.-listed Chinese stocks such as Alibaba fell

2.4%, Bilibili lost 4.4% and Xpeng declined

2.7% after data from China heightened concerns about a recovery

in the world's second-largest economy.

Crypto stocks such as MicroStrategy ( MSTR ) slid 5.3%,

Coinbase dropped 5.5% and Riot declined 4.3%,

tracking a 4% drop in bitcoin.

Airbnb ( ABNB ) rose 1.8% after Jefferies upgraded the

vacation home rental company's shares to "buy" from "hold".