U.S. stock index futures fell on Sunday evening amid growing uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s plans for trade tariffs, while strong payrolls data cast doubts over when the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.
Focus was now squarely on Trump’s setting of tariff rates against major U.S. trading partners, which the president said he will do in the coming weeks. Still, Trump appeared to have extended the tariff deadline to August 1 from July 9.
Hotter-than-expected nonfarm payrolls data for June, released on Thursday, also weighed. Traders were seen sharply paring bets on interest rate cuts in July and September after the reading.
Futures fell after the Independence Day weekend, with Wall Street set for some profit-taking and volatility after the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit record highs on Thursday.
S&P 500 Futures fell 0.3% to 6,303.0 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 0.3% to 22,987.0 points by 19:15 ET (23:15 GMT). Dow Jones Futures fell 0.3% to 44,972.0 points.
Trump postpones tariff date to Aug.1, says to set rates soon Trump signaled last week that he will begin sending letters to major economies outlining his planned tariffs against them, although the duties will now take effect from August 1, instead of July 9.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters on Sunday that Trump will be setting the rates and potential deals now. Earlier, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the tariffs will be imposed as outlined in April if no trade deals were reached by August 1, but that he expected to announce more trade deals in the coming days.
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This left markets uncertain over just how high Trump’s tariffs will be, given that the president had in early-April announced tariffs going as high as 50% on major economies.
Washington has signed few trade deals since April– major agreements with the UK and Vietnam, and a framework trade deal with China. Focus is largely on whether trade deals will be signed with major economies such as Japan, the European Union, and India.
Wall St at record highs; trade, rate cut speculation to bring volatility Wall Street indexes closed at record highs on Thursday, buoyed by hopes that Trump will again postpone his plans to impose trade tariffs. His August 1 date was seen furthering this notion.
Strength in technology stocks also boosted Wall Street, as artificial intelligence majors such as Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) saw extended buying.
But Wall Street indexes are expected to face some volatility in the coming sessions, especially after Thursday’s nonfarm payroll reading saw markets sharply scale back expectations for interest rate cuts in the coming months.
The S&P 500 rose 0.8% to 6,279.35 points on Thursday, while the NASDAQ Composite rose 1% to 20,601.10 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8% to 44,828.53 points.
