US stock futures felt the pressure on Wednesday as Wall Street scoured the latest earnings for signs that corporate America is weathering the tariff turmoil that’s keeping inflation aloft.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) rose 0.2% after the blue-chip index lost over 400 points on Tuesday, while S&P 500 futures (ES=F) were little changed. Those on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) slipped roughly 0.2%.
Solid earnings from Bank of America (BAC) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) helped ease some Wall Street worry about President Trump’s cycle of escalating tariff threats. BofA’s trading desks benefited from trade policy-driven market gyrations, as did those at fellow banks Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs (GS).
But techs were set to lose their record-setting shine after a tariff-fueled growth warning from ASML (ASML). Shares in the top supplier of chipmaking equipment sank before the bell.
Read more: Full earnings coverage in our live blog
At the same time, markets are bracing for another inflation checkup after the latest consumer price reading spurred traders to pare bets on Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts. Tuesday’s CPI report showed inflation accelerated in June. It rose at its fastest year-over-year clip since February, with signs of tariff-driven inflation starting to show up in the data.
That has led to more speculation that the Fed will stand pat on rates not just this month — an outcome that seems virtually guaranteed at this point — but also in September, even as President Trump pushes furiously for cuts.
Markets will get another inflation pulse check on Wednesday with the release of the Producer Price Index, which measures wholesale inflation before prices reach consumers. Like consumer prices, the PPI is expected to show a pickup in inflation last month.
As the market attempts to digest the early effects of Trump’s trade moves, he has signaled that tariffs on drug imports will probably come in on Aug. 1, when the pause on implementation of “reciprocal” rates lifts. Implementation of levies on semiconductors are likely to follow the same timeline.
Read more: The latest on Trump’s tariffs
Meanwhile, Trump has plowed ahead with plans to impose increased duties next month on key trading partners, including the European Union, Canada, and Mexico. Trump announced Tuesday that the US had reached a deal with Indonesia as it continues talks.
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