The major U.S. index futures on the Dow Jones, S&P and Nasdaq are currently pointing to a roughly flat open on Wednesday, with stocks likely to show a lack of direction following the rally seen in the previous session.
Traders may be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of earnings news from AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA).
Nvidia, which is scheduled to release its fiscal first quarter results after the close of today’s trading, is up by 0.8 percent in pre-market trading.
Lingering uncertainty about President Donald Trump’s trade policies may also keep some traders on the sidelines following recent volatility.
Trump’s threat to impose 50 percent tariffs on imports from the European Union triggered a steep drop by stocks last Friday only for his decision to delay the proposed tariffs to spark the rally on Tuesday.
Traders are also looking ahead to this afternoon’s release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting, which may shed light on the outlook for interest rates.
After moving sharply higher early in the session, stocks saw further upside over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. With the strong upward move, the major averages largely offset the steep losses posted last week.
The Nasdaq shot up 461.96 points or 2.5 percent to 19,199.16, the S&P 500 surged 118.72 points or 2.1 percent to 5,921.54 and the Dow jumped 740.58 points or 1.8 percent to 42,343.65.
The rally on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump announced he is delaying a threatened 50 percent tariff on imports from the European Union.
“I received a call today from Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, requesting an extension on the June 1st deadline on the 50% Tariff with respect to Trade and the European Union,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday.
“I agreed to the extension – July 9, 2025 – It was my privilege to do so,” he added. “The Commission President said that talks will begin rapidly.”
Trump said in a subsequent Truth Social post this morning that the EU has “called to quickly establish meeting dates,” which he described as a “positive event.”
“I hope that they will, FINALLY, like my same demand to China, open up the European Nations for Trade with the United States of America,” he said. “They will BOTH be very happy, and successful, if they do!!!”
The move by Trump came as analysts previously suggested the threatened tariff on the EU was just a negotiating tactic and not where the eventual rate will wind up.
Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to a report released by the Conference Board showing a substantial improvement by U.S. consumer confidence in the month of May.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index spiked to 98.0 in May after plunging to a downwardly revised 85.7 in April.
Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to inch up to 87.3 from the 86.0 originally reported for the previous month.
Airline stocks turned in some of the market’s best performances on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 4.9 percent.
Substantial strength was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 3.4 percent spike by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
Networking, computer hardware and banking stocks also saw considerable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.
Dow Jones, S&P, Nasdaq, Futures Pointing To Roughly Flat Open On Wall Street
by
Tags: