US stock futures were under pressure late Wednesday afternoon after President Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on a range of US trading partners that surprised markets during a "Liberation Day" event held at the White House.

Near 4:45 p.m. ET, S&P 500 futures were down 1.7%, Nasdaq 100 futures were off 2.5%, while futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7%.

Ahead of Trump's announcement on Wednesday, stocks shook off early losses with all three majors gaining ground as the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) gained 0.7%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI ) rose almost 0.6%, or more than 200 points, and the Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC ) popped about 0.9%.

Both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 had been down more than 1% in early trading on Wednesday.

Read more: The latest news and updates as Trump's tariffs take effect

Tesla ( TSLA ) shares helped lead the reversal. The stock had fallen nearly 5% after the EV maker's first quarter deliveries came in weaker than expected. But after a report from Politico that Musk is expected to leave his role in the government soon, shares turned upward by more than 5%. Amazon ( AMZN ) stock was also up 2% after the New York Times reported the tech giant has made a "last-minute bid" for TikTok.

Meanwhile, the day has finally arrived for Trump's big tariff reveal, with investors looking forward to the end of the trade policy uncertainty that has buffeted stocks for weeks.

The 10-year Treasury yield ( ^TNX ) inched up about 4 basis points to 4.19%, moving off a recent six-month low.

Even now, markets remain in the dark as to what the new reciprocal duties will entail, and so how big the potential shock to the US economy will be. Fears are that the duties could spur a full-on trade war as countries respond with their own retaliatory tariffs.

Read more: The latest on Trump's tariffs

On the economic front, the private sector added more jobs in March than expected, fresh ADP data showed. The upbeat reading sets the stage for the release of the March jobs report on Friday, watched for insight into the health of the US economy amid trade war fears.

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