US stock futures hovered around baseline as Wall Street braced for a busy day of Big Tech earnings and digested President Trump’s latest move on tariffs.
Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) slipped 0.1%. Futures attached to the benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F) dipped 0.3%. Futures attached to the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (NQ=F) fell 0.4%.
Stocks gained ground on Tuesday as investors found new reason to believe that Trump’s upbeat stance on tariff negotiations will result in the new duties ultimately being dialed down.
Read more: The latest on Trump’s tariffs
Trump signed an Executive Order paring back key parts of tariffs affecting automakers, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that a trade deal with an unnamed country was “done, done, done, done.”
Meanwhile, speculation continues to circulate over whether China and the US are, in fact, in talks over trade and which country might make a first major move.
On Tuesday evening, Trump said he believed China would “eat” the US’s eye-popping tariffs and limit the impact on US consumers, adding that the country “deserved” its 145% rate.
On Wednesday, Wall Street’s attention will turn to earnings from two major tech giants. Microsoft (MSFT) is set to report its earnings after-the-bell, with pressure mounting on the company to deliver profits on AI. Meta (META) will also share its results following market close with investors focused on how tariffs could impact the business.
New economic data is due Wednesday too. The release of US gross domestic product (GDP) for the first quarter will shed light on where the economy stood prior to Trump’s historic tariff hike. A new reading of the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, will similarly provide a snapshot as to where prices stood before the current trade war broke out.
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