US stock futures regrouped on Tuesday on the heels of notching fresh records, as investors assessed President Trump’s trade moves in Japan as they waited for this week’s wave of potentially market-moving events.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F), the S&P 500 (ES=F) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) all hovered around the flat line.
Investors are in for a packed few days featuring Big Tech earnings, a Federal Reserve rate decision, and a key meeting between President Trump and China’s President Xi. The major US stock gauges rose to fresh all-time highs on Monday, with the S&P 500 (^GSPC) closing above 6,800 for the first time, amid rising hopes for a US-China trade deal.
Eyes are now on Japan, where Trump signed deals on rare earths and trade on Tuesday as he lavished praise on new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. He also welcomed a pledge by Japan’s first female leader to ramp up military spendin at their meeting in Tokyo.
“I want to just let you know anytime you have any question, any doubt, anything you want, any favors you need, anything I can do to help Japan, we will be there,” Trump said. “We are an ally at the strongest level.”
Later, attention will turn to the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting, which kicks off on Tuesday. Markets are pricing in a second interest-rate cut after policymakers pivoted to easing. The watch is on for clues from Chair Jerome Powell as to the odds of another rate cut in December, as Wall Street grapples with a data blackout caused by the US government shutdown.
Earnings season roars on, with reports from Visa (V), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), and PayPal (PYPL) among the highlights on Tuesday. The following days bring results from “Magnificent Seven” megacap tech companies including Alphabet (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), Meta (META), and Microsoft (MSFT). Particular focus is on Amazon (AMZN) earnings as the online retailer and cloud services provider eyes cutting up to 30,000 corporate jobs.
LIVE 1 update
