Stock futures are holding steady Wednesday after Donald Trump’s top trade official said there could be a compromise on recently implemented tariffs against Canada and Mexico.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were each hovering near unchanged about half an hour before the opening bell, while those linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.1%. The major indexes are coming off of two straight days of steep losses amid concerns about the potential impact of the tariffs and broader worries about the health of the U.S. economy,
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during an interview with Fox Business late Tuesday that Trump had been in discussions with officials from Mexico and Canada, and that the White House would likely announce an agreement with the countries that meets them “in the middle.” The U.S. early Tuesday imposed 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, while doubling the levy on Chinese imports to 20%.
The comments from Lutnick came as Trump, during a speech to Congress, defended tariffs as a critical measure to create jobs and generate revenue. Critics say the trade measures will spark inflation, disrupt economic activity and harm businesses that do business around the world, especially as other countries take retaliatory steps.
Shares of automakers, which stand to be particularly hard hit by tariffs, were gaining ground in premarket trading Wednesday. Shares of General Motors (GM) were up nearly 6%, while Jeep and Chrysler maker Stellantis (STLA) and Toyota Motor (TM) each jumped 7% and 5%, respectively.
Mega-cap technology stocks were up across the board this morning, let by a 1.5% gain for chipmaker Broadcom (AVGO), which is scheduled to release quarterly results after tomorrow’s closing bell. AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) was up about 1%, while Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META) and Tesla (TSLA) also inched higher.
Shares of CrowdStrike (CRWD) were down nearly 7% ahead of the bell after the cybersecurity provider released quarterly results late yesterday that came in below analysts’ expectations.
Investors were also reacting to private sector payrolls numbers released this morning by ADP that came in weaker than expected, adding to concerns about a slowing U.S. economy. The big data point of the week comes Friday morning, when the February jobs report is slated for release.
The yield on 10-year Treasurys, which fell to its lowest level since December on Tuesday amid mounting investor concerns about the economy, fell to 4.20% after the ADP number, from 4.26% earlier Wednesday.
Bitcoin was trading at $89,400, up from an overnight low of $86,300. Gold futures were down 0.5% at $2,905 an ounce, while West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures dropped 2.2% to $66.75 per barrel.
