On the night of Monday, U.S. stock futures remained fairly stable as investors braced for the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy meeting—the first since President Trump announced “mutual” tariffs in early April.
S&P 500 futures were nearly flat, while futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a slight increase. However, futures for Nasdaq-100 dipped by 0.2%.
In the main trading session earlier in the day, the S&P 500 dropped by 0.6%, breaking a nine-day winning streak, the longest since 2004. The Nasdaq Composite fell by 0.7%, and the Dow experienced a 0.2% decline.
The uncertainty surrounding tariffs continues to loom over the markets. Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent mentioned on CNBC that they’re “very close to some deals.” Reports indicate that India might propose zero tariffs on selected goods.
Despite this, no formal trade agreements between the U.S. and its partners have been confirmed yet. Data from the Supply Management Institute revealed stronger-than-anticipated activity in the services sector for April, but concerns regarding tariffs persist.
All eyes are on the Fed’s two-day policy meeting starting Tuesday, with updates expected Wednesday. Traders are particularly attentive to remarks from Chairman Jerome Powell regarding the economic outlook, which suggests a potential reduction rate of 2.7%.
Powell noted some temporary disruptions and slowed growth affecting supply chains, which could, at least temporarily, influence inflation and complicate the Fed’s flexibility with interest rates.
But he also pointed out that “we don’t perceive this situation as a long-term issue,” highlighting that global economies are interlinked and stressing the need for timely agreements.
On the economic front, data regarding the U.S. trade deficit for March is set to be released Tuesday morning. Investors are also looking forward to income reports from Doordash in the morning, followed by Advanced Micro Devices and Super Micro in the afternoon.
