At 7am, US S&P 500 E-minis were down 6 points, or 0.09%, Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 43.25 points, or 0.19%, and Dow E-minis were down 86 points, or 0.19%.
Wall Street’s heavyweights are starting to feel the sting of tariffs.
General Motors saw its second quarter (Q2) core profit tumble 32% to US$3 billion, blaming steep tariff costs for shaving US$1.1 billion from its bottom line.
The company’s shares lost 3.5% in premarket trading, while peer Ford also dropped 1%.
RTX cut its 2025 profit forecast as the aerospace and defense giant took a hit from Trump’s tariff war. Its shares dropped 1%.
Meanwhile, Coca-Cola rose 1% after beating Q2 revenue estimates.
Despite trade policy uncertainty out of Washington, the US economy’s resilience has propelled major indexes to fresh all-time highs.
With little over a week to go before Aug 1, treasury secretary Scott Bessent emphasised yesterday that the administration was prioritising the quality of trade deals over speed.
Meanwhile, trade talks are stuck as the EU weighs new countermeasures against the US and hopes for an interim deal with India were fading, Indian government officials said.
Still, a slew of positive earnings surprises has kept markets near record territory.
Analysts expect S&P 500 companies to report a healthy 6.7% jump in Q2 profits, with Big Tech leading the charge, data compiled by LSEG shows.
“While US stocks may be due for a breather, we believe the bull market remains intact… we recommend using volatility as an opportunity to phase into markets,” Mark Haefele, CIO of UBS Global Wealth Management said.
Today’s cautious trading comes after a rollercoaster session that ended with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both notching record closes.
Much of the action was fueled by investors snapping up megacaps such as Alphabet ahead of earnings.
Google-parent Alphabet and EV-maker Tesla will inaugurate quarterly results for the “Magnificent Seven” stocks tommorrow, setting the tone for Wall Street.
Shares of Tesla were down 0.3% in premarket trading, having fallen about 19% so far in 2025 amid CEO Elon Musk’s political involvement and the challenges its core business faces.
Investors will also be tuning in at 8.30am for a speech from US Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Jerome Powell, searching for hints on the central bank’s next move.
The Fed’s reluctance to cut rates has drawn fire from the Trump administration, fueling speculation about Powell’s future.
Bessent signaled yesterday that he wants to review the Fed’s performance as an institution.
Following last week’s mixed economic signals, traders have all but ruled out a rate cut next week and now see a 56.3% chance of an easing in September, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Among other movers, US coal miners Peabody Energy and Warrior Met Coal were up 3.7% each, as China’s coking coal prices surged amid market speculation about government inspections in major production hubs.