07:14 AM EDT, 03/31/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US benchmark equity indexes were down early Monday as investors brace for a potential announcement of reciprocal tariffs against the country's trading partners this week and digest the latest inflation report.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 1% and 0.6% in premarket activity, respectively, while the Nasdaq was off 1.3%. The indexes closed last week in the red as President Trump's announcement of 25% tariffs on imported passenger vehicles and certain auto parts weighed on market sentiment.

Government data on Friday also showed a surprise acceleration in the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric, while a University of Michigan survey indicated that US consumer sentiment fell for a third consecutive month in March.

The government is expected to announce reciprocal tariffs this week. Trump told reporters on Sunday that the expected tariffs will target "all countries," Bloomberg reported.

"A black mark in the annals of global economic history arrives on Wednesday. President Trump calls it 'Liberation Day,'" Scotiabank said in a client note. "The most vulnerable countries are ones with relatively high tariffs on US imports and with whom the US is running trade deficits."

US Treasury yields moved down in premarket action, with the two-year rate falling 5.6 basis points to 3.85% and the 10-year rate down 5.2 basis points to 4.2%.

Before the opening bell, Lululemon Athletica ( LULU ) shares fell 2.2% after closing the Friday session down 14% as the athletic apparel and footwear company issued its fiscal first-quarter outlook below market estimates amid cautious consumer spending. Tesla (TSLA) shares fell 4.6% before the opening bell. The EV maker's first-quarter delivery numbers scheduled to be out later this week are likely to be below Wall Street estimates, RBC Capital Markets said in a note Friday.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) declined 3.8% while Palantir ( PLTR ) was down 6%.

On Monday's economic calendar, the Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index for March is scheduled to be out at 9:45 am ET, while the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey for the same month is due at 10:30 am. The farm prices report for February posts at 3 pm.

Loar Holdings ( LOAR ) is scheduled to report earnings before the bell, while PVH (PVH), Progress Software (PRGS) and TechTarget (TTGT) will post their latest quarterly statements after the markets close.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil inched 0.6% higher to $69.79 a barrel as Trump reportedly said on Sunday that he would consider imposing "secondary tariffs" on Russia's oil exports.

Gold ticked 1% higher to $3,114 per troy ounce. Bitcoin was down 1.1% to 81,657.