US stock futures were up slightly on Thursday after President Donald Trump said he plans to introduce reciprocal tariffs later in the day. Meanwhile, investors digested another report that suggested inflation is once again heating up.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) and S&P 500 futures (ES=F) both were up around 0.2% after closing lower on Wednesday. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) rose 0.4%.
Markets are on alert after Trump signaled in a social media post that his promised like-for-like tariffs will arrive later on Thursday. “Today is the big one: reciprocal tariffs,” he wrote.
The reciprocal tariffs could target any country that imposes import duties on US products, meaning they have the potential to upend the US’s relationships around the globe. They would be the latest in a Trump tariff overhaul that risks spurring inflation and sparking a global trade war.
Those concerns had investors bracing for another read on price pressures, after January’s hot consumer inflation print dented optimism for an interest rate cut anytime soon. The Producer Price Index (PPI) — which measures prices seen at the wholesale level — showed price pressures remain sticky. Prices jumped 0.4% from December and 3.5% over the past year, both coming in hotter than economists expected.
Earnings season rolls on, looking solid after a majority of beats from the almost 70% of S&P 500 companies to have reported so far. Robinhood (HOOD) shares soared in pre-market trading on the heels of a fourth-quarter profit beat. But Reddit’s (RDDT) stock tumbled amid a miss in user growth at the social media company.
The highlights late Thursday include Airbnb (ABNB), Applied Materials (AMAT), and Coinbase (COIN).
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Wholesale prices rise more than expected in January as inflation remains sticky
Wholesale prices ticker higher than expected last month, highlighting that the Federal Reserve fight against sticky inflation isn’t over.
The Producer Price Index in January rose 0.4%, more than the expected increase of 0.3%, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Thursday morning.
Meanwhile January’s PPI rose 3.5% from a year ago.
The reading for the month of December was revised up to 0.5%, from 0.2%.
The major averages shook off the hotter than expected reading, with futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) and S&P 500 (ES=F) both rising slightly. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) rose 0.4% in pre-market.
Asian shares rise, optimism driven by US-Russian peace talks and AI hype
Asian shares rose Thursday, driven by optimism surrounding US President Donald Trump’s agreement with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the Ukraine war. This, along with the possibility of Trump pausing some tariffs, boosted market sentiment, despite Wall Street’s decline the day before.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 (^N225) gained 1.3%, while South Korea’s Kospi (^KS11) rose 0.9%. However, the Shanghai Composite (000888.SS) dipped 0.2%.
In energy markets, oil prices declined, with Brent crude (BZ=F) falling 2.7% to below $72 a barrel, partly due to optimism over US-Russia peace talks. These declines and a 3% drop in Exxon Mobil’s (XOM) stock added to market pressures. Despite this, Asian investors were more focused on the potential resolution of the Ukraine conflict and the growing strength of China’s tech sector, which continues to see gains on the back of DeepSeek AI hype.
