US STOCKS-Wall Street futures sink as tariffs fuel recession fears

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Apple ( AAPL ) leads decline among Big Tech

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Retail stocks slump on Asia tariff worries

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Wall St fear gauge hits 3-week high

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Futures down: Dow 2.58%, S&P 500 3.26%, Nasdaq 3.73%

(Updates with more context throughout, fresh prices)

By Sruthi Shankar

April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures tumbled on Thursday after President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs on major trade partners heightened fears of an all-out trade war that could push the global economy into a recession.

Global stocks slumped, government bonds jumped and safe-haven gold touched a record high as Trump slapped a 10% tariff on most goods imported to the United States and much higher levies on dozens of rivals.

Futures tracking the S&P 500 fell 3.26% by 05:55 a.m. ET (1055 GMT), Dow futures dropped 2.58%, while Nasdaq 100 e-minis tumbled 3.73%, led by declines in shares of megacap tech companies.

Apple ( AAPL ) sank 7.1%, hit by an aggregate 54% tariff on China - the base for much of Apple's ( AAPL ) manufacturing. Microsoft ( MSFT ) dropped 2.2% and Nvidia ( NVDA ) fell 4.4%.

"Eye-watering tariffs on a country-by-country basis scream 'negotiation tactic,' which will keep markets on edge for the foreseeable future," said Adam Hetts, global head of multi-asset and portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors.

"We've seen the administration have a surprisingly high tolerance for market pain... now the big question is how much tolerance it has for true economic pain as negotiations unfold."

Futures tracking the U.S. small-cap Russell 2000 index tumbled 4.5%, underscoring concerns about the health of the domestic economy.

Retailers were hit hard on Thursday, with

Nike ( NKE )

dropping 9.1% and Walmart ( WMT ) falling 5.8% after Trump imposed a raft of new tariffs on major production hubs including Vietnam, Indonesia and China.

Big banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co ( JPM ), Citigroup ( C/PN ) and Bank of America Corp ( BAC ), which are sensitive to economic risks, dropped more than 3% each.

The CBOE Volatility index, known as Wall Street's fear gauge, touched a three-week high at 25.93 points.

Sentiment among Wall Street traders had already soured in recent weeks on worries the tariffs would hurt the U.S. economy and stoke inflation.

Traders added to bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at least thrice this year, with a fourth rate cut by end of the year an increasingly less far-fetched outcome.

Investors are looking ahead to U.S. non-farm payrolls report and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech for clues on the state of the U.S. economy and monetary policy outlook.

Data on weekly jobless claims and U.S. services sector activity are due later in the day.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Anil D'Silva)