Stock Market Futures Fall as Trump Speech Puts Damper on Trade Deal Hopes
Category: Trade
(New York Post) – US stock index futures fell on Wednesday, a day after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit new record highs, as a lack of clarity on US-China trade relations from President Donald Trump and escalating tensions in Hong Kong dampened risk appetite.
Trump on Tuesday dangled the prospect of completing an initial trade deal with China “soon,” but offered no new details on negotiations, while also threatening to raise tariffs again if the two sides did not reach an agreement.
Trade-sensitive technology stocks had lifted the benchmark S&P 500 and Nasdaq to all-time highs in the run-up to Trump’s speech on Tuesday, but the indexes pulled back slightly after his address at the Economic Club of New York.
Chipmakers, which get a sizeable chunk of sales from China, fell in premarket trading. Nvidia, Micron, Intel and Advanced Micro Devices shed between 0.3 percent and 0.8 percent.
Shares of Alibaba fell 1.6 percent and were set for their worst day in three weeks following reports that the Chinese e-commerce giant planned to launch a Hong Kong share sale to raise up to $13.4 billion as soon as Thursday.
Heightened tensions in Hong Kong also dulled sentiment after police warned violence related to anti-government protests had reached a deadly level and that the Asian financial hub had been pushed to the “brink of a total breakdown”.
Wall Street’s main indexes have set new highs this month on the back of a strong corporate earnings season and hopes of a trade deal with Beijing to end the damaging 16-month tariff war.
Investor attention now turns to testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on the domestic economy on Wednesday and Thursday as well as fresh economic data, starting with the consumer price index at 8:30 a.m. ET.
