Stock Market News: Dow Set to Open Up
U.S. stocks looked set to rise on Thursday after President Donald Trump said he was set to announce the first trade deal since he unveiled sweeping tariffs on countries across the world.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 295 points, or 0.7%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.9%, and contracts tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 jumped 1.3%.
The three blue-chip indexes ended Wednesday in the green on news that U.S. and Chinese officials will meet to discuss trade and reports that Trump could relax curbs on artificial-intelligence chips. The Federal Reserve also held interest rates as expected, although Chair Jerome Powell did signal that Trump’s tariffs have made the macroeconomic outlook more uncertain.
Stocks were headed for further gains after Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he would unveil a “major trade deal with representatives of a big, and highly respected, country.” He’s set to give a press conference in the Oval Office at 10 a.m. Eastern time.
The President is expected to announce the framework of a deal with the U.K., according to a report from The Wall Street Journal that cited people familiar with the negotiations. The U.K. is currently subject to a 10% baseline tariff on most goods that took effect last month, as well as the 25% levies on steel and aluminum imports that Trump imposed in March.
“Given that full trade deals take years to negotiate, this will likely be a framework and it will be interesting to see whether the 10% baseline tariff stays as that will provide an important template for negotiations with other countries and a good guide to the long-term tariff strategy of the U.S.,” Deutsche Bank macro strategist Jim Reid said in a morning research note.
Bond yields ticked up in early trading. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note climbed 2 basis points to 4.298%, and 2-year yields rose 3 basis points to 3.816%.
Bitcoin prices closed in on the $100,000 milestone, jumping 3% to $99,300 early in the day. The U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies including the euro and the British pound, was up 0.5%.