US pre-open: Futures lower as Trump imposes 25pc tariff on steel imports
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Tuesday 11 Feb 2025
(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were in the red ahead of the bell on Tuesday after Donald Trump signed an executive order to impose a 25% tariff on steel imports.
As of 1230 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.21%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.29% and 0.44% weaker, respectively.
The Dow closed 167.01 points higher on Monday as traders shrugged off new tariff threats from the Trump White House.
However, futures headed south on Tuesday morning as those threats turned into reality late on Monday night when Trump, in addition to the steel tariffs, raised import duties on aluminium from 10% to 25%, with both levies set to come into effect on 4 March.
Trade Nation's David Morrison said: "US stock index futures were a touch weaker in early trade this morning, giving back some of yesterday's gains. Equities had a good start to the week on Monday, and once again, it was tech stocks that led the push higher.
"Investors will focus on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell's first day of testimony in Washington to the Senate Banking Committee. Tomorrow he will address the House Financial Services Committee, but this will largely repeat what goes on today. Investors will be very interested to hear what Mr Powell has to say about tariffs, particularly how they may affect inflation. It seems likely that the Fed Chair will be quite circumspect, preferring to 'wait and see' rather than rushing to judgement. The US central bank has made it clear that it's in no hurry to loosen monetary policy further, following the 100 basis points worth of rate cuts over the last four months of 2024. FOMC members cited the US's solid economic growth performance and low unemployment, along with a cloudier inflation outlook, as reasons to hold off from cutting rates further."
Outside of Powell's Congress testimony, things were rather light on the macro front, with just the National Federation of Independent Business revealing that its small business optimism index fell to 102.8 in January, down from 105.1 in December, missing forecasts for a reading of 104.6. Chief economist Bill Dunkelberg said: "Overall, small business owners remain optimistic regarding future business conditions, but uncertainty is on the rise. Hiring challenges continue to frustrate Main Street owners as they struggle to find qualified workers to fill their many open positions. Meanwhile, fewer plan capital investments as they prepare for the months ahead."
In corporate news, Coca-Cola, Humana, Lyft and Super Micro Computer were all slated to report earnings on Tuesday.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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