Wall Street was sluggish in the early going Tuesday as geopolitical concerns and President Donald Trump’s trade policies weighed on markets.
Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are virtually unchanged before the opening bell. Futures for the technology-centered Nasdaq is off 0.3% after media reports that the Trump administration is further tightening trade restrictions on China’s semiconductor industry.
Dramatically altering transatlantic relations under Trump, the United States split with its European allies by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in votes on three U.N. resolutions Monday seeking an end to the three-year war.
Additionally, Trump has openly antagonized multiple U.S. trading partners recently, threatening to raise tariffs and inviting them to retaliate with import taxes of their own, maneuvers that could ignite an expansive trade war.
Trump said Monday that tariff hikes on imports from America’s neighbors Canada and Mexico will move ahead after a one-month delay. He also has put an extra 10% tariff on Chinese imports, citing that country’s role in the production of the opioid fentanyl.
“President Trump isn’t blinking on tariffs,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. “Uncertainty reigns, and economic momentum is sputtering.”
Major companies have warned about uncertainty over U.S. trade policies, while the University of Michigan’s latest consumer sentiment index plunged by roughly 10% over the past month in part due to fears about tariffs and worsening inflation.
Another widely read report on consumer confidence arrives from a survey by the Conference Board later Tuesday, with most expecting another decline.
In equities trading, Home Depot fell about 2% before the bell after its forecast disappointed investors. The decline comes even after the hardware chain beat Wall Street sales and profit forecasts and posted its first increase in same-store sales in two years.
Bitcoin tumbled another 3%, to $88,871, a three-month low.
In Europe at midday, Germany’s DAX edged 0.1% higher, while the CAC 40 in Paris as unchanged. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.4%.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.4% to 38,237.79 after markets in Japan reopened from a holiday on Monday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gave up 1.3% to 23,034.02, while the Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.8% to 3,346.04.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.7% to 8,251.90.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.7% to 2,630.29 after the Bank of Korea cut its benchmark interest rate to 2.75% from 3%, its third cut in four meetings as it moves to support the slowing economy.
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 1.2% and the Sensex in India gained 0.3%.
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AP Business Writer Matt Ott contributed from Washington.
Wall Street is sluggish early going as geopolitical concerns and President Donald Trump’s trade policies weighs on markets.
BANGKOK – Shares opened higher in Europe but sagged Tuesday in Asia as worries over U.S.-China trade friction weighed on the outlook for the region.
Dramatically shifting transatlantic relations under U.S. President Donald Trump, the United States split with its European allies by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in votes on three U.N. resolutions Monday seeking an end to the three-year war.
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But regional markets were undaunted.
Germany’s DAX edged 0.1% higher, to 22,446.75, while the CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.1% to 8,087.33. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.1%, to 8,684.00.
The future for the S&P 500 was down 0.3% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2%.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 1.4% to 38,237.79 after markets in Japan reopened from a holiday on Monday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gave up 1.3% to 23,034.02, while the Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.8% to 3,346.04.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.7% to 8,251.90.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.7% to 2,630.29 after the Bank of Korea cut its benchmark interest rate to 2.75% from 3%, its third cut in four meetings as it moves to support the slowing economy.
Taiwan’s Taiex fell 1.2% and the Sensex in India gained 0.3%.
Trump has openly antagonized multiple U.S. trading partners recently, threatening to raise tariffs and inviting them to retaliate with import taxes of their own that could send the economy hurtling into a trade war. He said Monday that tariff hikes on imports from America’s neighbors Canada and Mexico will move ahead after a one-month delay. He also has put an extra 10% tariff on Chinese imports, citing that country’s role in the production of the opioid fentanyl.
Major companies have warned about uncertainty over U.S. trade policies, while the University of Michigan’s latest consumer sentiment index plunged by roughly 10% over the past month in part due to fears about tariffs and inflation worsening.
“President Trump isn’t blinking on tariffs,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. “Uncertainty reigns, and economic momentum is sputtering.”
On Monday, U.S. stocks drifted lower, compounding their sharp losses from last week.
German stocks ticked higher, and the DAX advanced 0.6% after political conservatives won an election dominated by concerns about Europe’s largest economy.
The S&P 500 dipped 0.5% to 5,983.25 on Monday after flipping between small gains and losses several times through the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1% to 43,461.21, while the Nasdaq composite fell 1.2% to 19,286.92.
Berkshire Hathaway climbed 4.1% for one of the market’s bigger gains after Warren Buffett’s company reported a jumped in operating profits for the latest quarter. But even there, the good news came with a bit of caution.
The owner of Geico, BNSF railroad and other businesses said over the weekend that it’s sitting on a mountain of $334.2 billion in unused cash. Such a large amount could indicate Buffett, who’s famous for buying stocks when prices are low, may not see much worth purchasing in a market that critics say looks too expensive.
Big U.S. companies have broadly been reporting better profits for the last three months of 2024 than analysts expected, which is one of the main reasons the S&P 500 set a record before sliding at the end of last week.
More profit reports are coming. This week will also feature updates on consumer confidence and inflation, topics leading Wall Street’s agenda following last week’s slump.
In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil shed 2 cents to $70.68 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 14 cents to $74.19 per barrel.
The dollar rose to 149.78 Japanese yen from 149.71 yen. The euro slipped to $1.0467 from $1.0468.