Dow Set to Open Down as Market Focus Returns to Trump Tariffs
The euphoria from the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting didn’t last long. U.S. stocks were again looking for direction early Friday as attention shifts from the Fed to the prospect of further tariffs.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 49 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures were dropping 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures were falling 0.1%.
Better-than-expected readings from weekly jobless claims and the Philly Fed Index weren’t enough to keep the stock rally going, after initial enthusiasm in the wake of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech on Wednesday.
Meantime, President Donald Trump said in a social media post that the planned imposition of reciprocal tariffs on April 2 would be “Liberation Day” in the U.S.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note stood at 4.259% early on Friday, ticking up from the previous day.
“We maintain our view that the FOMC [Federal Open Market Committee] outcome was effectively a one-day move, with minimal legacy in terms of immediate direction. That said, we also view the FOMC outcome as a whole as nodding towards dovishness, but with numerous caveats,” wrote ING analyst Benjamin Schroeder in a research note.
Quantum-computing stocks are likely to be in focus after suffering steep falls on Thursday as investors appeared unimpressed by their contributions to Nvidia’s Quantum Day at its GTC developers’ event.