Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Rise as Investors Digest Latest News on Tariffs, Bank Earnings, Inflation Data

Stock futures moved higher in volatile trading Friday after yesterday’s steep downturn, as investors react to the latest developments in a trade war with China, earnings reports from major U.S. banks and encouraging inflation data.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.6% in recent trading, while those tied to the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq each added 0.7%. Stocks plunged yesterday after posting one of their best days ever on Wednesday, as headlines on tariffs drive investor sentiment amid fears that the trade measures could cause economic growth to stall and inflation to rise.

China on Friday announced that it had raised its levy on imports from the U.S. to 125%. The move by Beijing comes two days after President Trump announced that China would be excluded from a 90-day pause on so-called “reciprocal” tariffs. Under that pause, all other countries are subject to a 10% base rate, while China faces an overall 145% tariff.

Trading has been extraordinarily volatile in recent days amid the back-and-forth on tariffs, with the Dow swinging more than 2,000 points between its high and low of the session every day so far this week. Nonetheless, the major indexes enter Friday’s session on track to post weekly gains for the first time in three weeks.

Producer price data released this morning showed that wholesale inflation fell in March, adding to optimism that price pressures are under control ahead of the impact of tariffs being felt. Consumer price data on Thursday also painted a positive picture.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, notably mortgages, was at 4.46% this morning, up from 4.39% at yesterday’s close. The yield moved as low as 3.86% last Friday, its lowest level since October, and as high as 4.52% on Wednesday before Trump paused the reciprocal tariffs. Volatile trading in the government bond market has spurred concerns that some countries may be dumping their U.S. bond holdings or that hedge funds have had to unwind trades amid the market turmoil.

Bank stocks, which have been hit hard amid concerns about an economic slowdown, were in focus this morning as the earnings reporting season kicked into gear. Among those reporting first-quarter results, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) was up 2%, while BlackRock (BLK) gained 1%, Morgan Stanley (MS) was little-changed and Wells Fargo (WFC) fell 0.5%.

Mega-cap technology stocks, which led the broad sell-off yesterday, were gaining ground in premarket trading Friday. Chipmakers Nvidia (NVDA) and Broadcom (AVGO) were up more than 1%, as were Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOG). Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META) and Tesla (TSLA) inched higher, while Apple (AAPL) was down slightly.

Shares of mining companies also rose ahead of the bell as gold futures were up 2.1% to $3,245 per ounce in recent trading. Barrick Gold (GOLD) and Newmont Mining (NEM) each gained nearly 4%.

Oil stabilized after a bumpy few days, with West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, up 0.5% at $60.35 per barrel.

Bitcoin was at $82,200 recently, up from an overnight low of $78,900. The digital currency has bounced around this week, tracking moves on the equities market.