US stock futures climbed on Wednesday after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick hinted that President Donald Trump may provide a pathway to tariff relief for Canada and Mexico as soon as Wednesday.
S&P 500 futures (ES=F) rose roughly 0.5%. Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) advanced 0.4%. And futures attached to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) added 0.6%
As of 4:52:53 AM EST. Market Open.
ES=F NQ=F ^DJI
Lutnick’s comments on Fox Business Network raised investor hopes that the president might reconsider broad tariffs on America’s top trading partners following the stock market’s volatile reaction to the new duties on Tuesday.
Traders received fresh signals on Trump’s next moves in the trade war and beyond after he addressed Congress Tuesday night. The President acknowledged the current state of economic discomfort by saying, “There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that. It won’t be much.”
The S&P 500 eliminated its post-election gains and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 650 points after Trump imposed 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico and doubled duties on China.
The affected countries pledged to hit back hard. Canada passed tariffs on billions of US products, and China slapped US farm goods with up to 15% new duties starting Monday. Mexico said it would reveal its own retaliatory tariffs later this week.
On Wednesday, the ADP National Employment Report will offer insight into private payroll growth, and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) is set to report earnings.
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