U.S. stock index futures inched lower on Wednesday evening after Wall Street logged a two-day losing streak on losses in bank shares and as technology stocks pulled back from recent gains.
Tech shares saw some profit-taking amid caution ahead of fourth quarter earnings from TSMC (NYSE:TSM), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, which are due on Thursday.
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Geopolitics remained a key point of concern, as markets fretted over U.S. intervention in Venezuela and Iran. Tehran warned of retaliation if the U.S. intervened in ongoing, nationwide protests in the Middle Eastern country.
S&P 500 Futures fell 0.1% to 6,957.25 points by 18:45 ET (23:45 GMT). Nasdaq 100 Futures fell nearly 0.2% to 25,590.50 points, while Dow Jones Futures fell 0.15% to 49,282.0 points.
Tech pulls back ahead of TSMC Q4 earnings Technology shares, which were a major driver of Wall Street’s new year rally, retreated this week amid some profit-taking.
Investors were on guard ahead of TSMC’s print on Thursday. The chipmaker is widely considered as a bellwether for the industry, given its pivotal role in manufacturing advanced chips. TSMC is also a key supplier to NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA).
TSMC’s U.S. shares fell over 1% on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on the import of some advanced computing chips on Wednesday, although the duties are unlikely to affect major producers, given their facilities in the United States.
Reports of Chinese restrictions on domestic sales by Nvidia weighed, with the chipmaker losing over 1% on Wednesday.
Broader tech shares were rattled by a Reuters report that China told local companies to stop using cybersecurity software made by over a dozen firms in the U.S. and Israel, over national security concerns. Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) shed over 4%.
Cloud firm Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) slid more than 4% after it was sued by its bondholders over losses suffered by the company’s artificial intelligence buildout, which saw it sell large amounts of additional debt.
Losses in tech saw the NASDAQ Composite slide 1%, much more than its peers. The S&P 500 shed 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%.
Wall Street indexes pulled back after hitting a series of record highs in early-January.
Bank stocks fall on credit cap jitters, mixed earnings Bank stocks were a major weight on Wall Street this week, especially after Trump said he will impose a hard, 10% limit on credit card interest rates.
Several bank executives opposed the cap, warning it could hurt consumers and financial sector returns.
This overshadowed some positive bank earnings. Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) and Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) fell more than 3% each despite clocking stronger-than-expected December quarter earnings.
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) fell over 4% after its quarterly revenue missed estimates, while JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) extended losses by nearly 1% after clocking middling earnings earlier in the week.
Bank stocks had a strong run in 2025 amid rate cuts and cheer over more deregulation under Trump. This left them open to some profit-taking.
More bank reports are due on Thursday, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), and asset manager BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK) set to report.
