Dow Jones, S&P, Nasdaq, U.S. Stocks May See Initial Strength On News of U.S.-U.K. Trade Deal

The major U.S. index futures on the Dow Jones, S&P and Nasdaq are currently pointing to a higher open on Thursday, with stocks likely to see further upside after ending yesterday’s volatile session mostly higher.

The upward momentum on Wall Street comes after President Donald Trump indicated he will announce a U.S.-U.K. trade deal during a press conference in the Oval Office this morning.

“The agreement with the United Kingdom is a full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

“Because of our long time history and allegiance together, it is a great honor to have the United Kingdom as our FIRST announcement,” he added. “Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!”

The announcement may help further ease uncertainty about trade following yesterday’s news that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet with China’s lead representative on economic matters during a trip to Switzerland.

After moving mostly lower over the two previous sessions, stocks saw considerable volatility over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages swung back and forth across the unchanged, particularly in the latter part of the session.

The major averages eventually ended the day in positive territory. The Dow advanced 284.97 points or 0.7 percent to 41,113.79, the S&P 500 climbed 24.37 points or 0.4 percent to 5,631.28 and the Nasdaq rose 48.50 points or 0.3 percent to 17,738.16.

The higher close on the day partly reflected a late-day by rally by semiconductor stocks, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping by 1.7 percent.

The strength in the sector came after a report from Bloomberg said the Trump administration plans to rescind Biden-era AI chip curbs as part of a broader effort to revise semiconductor trade restrictions.

Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said the repeal seeks to refashion a policy that created three broad tiers of countries for regulating the export of chips from Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and others.

Airline stocks also ended the day notably higher after an early rally, resulting in a 1.2 percent gain by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.

The volatility on the day also came as traders reacted to the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy announcement.

While the Fed left interest rates unchanged as widely expected, the central bank also warned of increasing risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation.