Stocks are likely to come under pressure in early trading on Wednesday, giving back ground after ending yesterday’s volatile session mostly higher. The major index futures are currently pointing to a sharply lower open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures down by 1.0 percent.
The downward momentum on Wall Street comes amid concerns about the impact of President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trade partners.
Trump is scheduled to announce the new tariffs in a Rose Garden event shortly after the close of trading, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt indicating the new levies will be “effective immediately.”
A report from Bloomberg said Trump’s team is still finalizing the level and scope of the new import taxes he is slated to unveil.
Citing people familiar with the ongoing discussions, Bloomberg said the White House has not reached a firm decision on their tariff plan and continued to hash out their options in meetings on Tuesday.
The futures remained firmly negative even after payroll processor ADP released a report showing private sector employment in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of March.
ADP said private sector employment jumped by 155,000 jobs in March after climbing by an upwardly revised 84,000 jobs in February.
Economists had expected private sector employment to grow by 105,000 jobs compared to the addition of 77,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
Not long after the start of trading, the Commerce Department is due to release its report on new orders for manufactured goods in the month of February. Factory orders are expected to climb by 0.5 percent in February after jumping by 1.7 percent in January.
After recovering from an early move to the downside and moving mostly higher in morning trading on Tuesday, stocks showed a lack of direction over the remainder of the session. The major averages spent the day swinging back and forth across the unchanged line.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq eventually ended the day firmly positive, jumping 150.60 points or 0.9 percent to 17,449.89. The S&P 500 also climbed 21.22 points or 0.4 percent to 5,633.07, but the narrower Dow edged down 11.80 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 41,989.96.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.3 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite Index inched up by 0.1 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi slid by 0.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index is down by 1.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 1.0 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.9 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are sliding $0.54 to $70.66 a barrel after falling $0.28 to $71.20 a barrel on Tuesday. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold is trading at $3,159.90, up $13.90 compared to the previous session’s close of $3,146. On Tuesday, gold edged down $4.30.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 149.20 yen compared to the 149.61 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Tuesday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.0810 compared to yesterday’s $1.0793.
Business News
U.S. Stocks May Come Under Pressure As Tariff Announcement Looms
2025-04-02 12:51:58
