The major U.S. index futures on the Dow Jones, S&P and Nasdaq are currently pointing to a sharply higher open on Monday, with stocks likely to see further upside after recovering from an early sell-off to end last Friday’s trading modestly higher.
Early buying interest is likely to be generated in reaction to reports President Donald Trump plans to hold back some of the reciprocal tariffs set to take effect on April 2nd.
A report from the Wall Street Journal said Trump is narrowing his approach to the tariffs, likely omitting a set of industry-specific tariffs.
Bloomberg also said Trump’s coming wave of tariffs is poised to be more targeted than the barrage he has occasionally threatened, citing aides and allies.
Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, with a lack of major U.S. economic data likely to keep some traders on the sidelines.
The Federal Reserve’s preferred readings on consumer price inflation are likely to be in focus later this week, while reports on consumer confidence, new home sales and durable goods orders may also attract attention.
After moving sharply lower early in the session, stocks showed a significant recovery over the course of the trading day on Friday. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day and into positive territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq saw a notable advance going into the close, ending the day up 92.43 points or 0.5 percent at 17,784.05 after tumbling by as much as 1.2 percent in early trading.
The Dow and the S&P 500 posted more modest gains. The Dow inched up 32.03 points or 0.1 percent to 41,985.35 and the S&P 500 crept up 4.67 points or 0.1 percent to 5,667.56.
With the turnaround on the day, the major averages closed higher for the week. The Dow jumped by 1.2 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq snapped four-week losing streaks, rising by 0.5 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.
The early weakness on Wall Street came amid ongoing concerns about the economic outlook along with rising geopolitical tensions and uncertainty about the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The selling pressure was partly offset by comments from Trump suggesting “there’ll be flexibility” with the reciprocal tariffs set to be imposed April 2nd.
However, Trump said during the same remarks in the Oval Office that providing exceptions for one country means “you have to do that for all,” furthering the uncertainty about his plans.
While the broader markets rebound, shares of FedEx (NYSE:FDX) remained sharply lower, with the delivery giant plunging by 6.5 percent on the day.
The slump by FedEx came after the company reported slightly weaker than expected fiscal third quarter earnings and lowered its full-year earnings guidance due to “continued weakness and uncertainty in the U.S. industrial economy.”
Dow component Nike (NYSE:NKE) also tumbled by 5.5 percent after the athletic apparel and footwear giant reported fiscal third quarter results that beat estimates but forecast a decrease in sales in the current quarter.
Chipmaker Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) also plummeted by 8.0 percent even though the company reported better than expected fiscal second quarter results and provided upbeat guidance.
Despite the recovery by the broader markets, steel stocks continued to see significant weakness, with the NYSE Arca Steel Index tumbling by 2.2 percent.
Considerable weakness also remained visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 2.0 percent slump by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index.
Homebuilder Lennar (NYSE:LEN) climbed well off its worst levels but still closed down by 4.0 percent after reporting better than expected fiscal first quarter results but forecasting fiscal second quarter new orders below estimates. Gold, commercial real estate and semiconductor stocks also saw notable weakness, while strength emerged among software and computer hardware stocks.