The stock market futures in the United States were slightly lower on Sunday night after a big week for the economy (FOMC Meeting), as well as many corporate earnings announcements from large companies. The combination of geopolitical issues and uncertainty related to trade created a challenging week for investors in the US last week. As of 20:10 Eastern time, S&P 500 futures were down 0.3% to 6,926, while Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.5% to 25,618. Dow Jones futures were down 0.3% to 40,140.
The S&P 500 finished the previous week lower by 0.4%, while the NASDAQ composite was lower, and the Dow Industrial Average was lower by 0.5%. A significant loss in stock prices stemmed primarily from the fallout of President Trump’s forthcoming visit to Greenland, including the accompanying tariffs he has threatened on China as part of his attempts to acquire strategic control over the North American Arctic region.
This has caused anxiety in financial markets and concern about the potential emergence of a Transatlantic tariff/duty trade dispute between Canada and the United States. After warning that he would impose a 100% tariff on goods from Canada if the two countries firm up a trade agreement with China.
President Trump has aggravated existing worries about global financial markets, thus causing gold prices to hit all-time highs of approximately 5,000 dollars an ounce this week, indicating an increased level of risk aversion among investors.
Read: Gold Prices Above $5000/Oz amid Safe-Haven Rush
As a result, the market is now paying attention to the two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting that will end with an official announcement on Wednesday. It is widely believed that again, the Reserve Board will unlikely raise interest rates since they have reduced rates for the last three consecutive meetings.
Therefore, the traders will also be watching for guidance in future moves based on the Fed’s statement and remarks by Chair Jerome Powell. The schedule for this week also includes earnings reports from many large corporations, which could impact the markets.
Approximately 20% of the companies in the S&P 500 are scheduled to release earnings; among these companies are four of the largest companies in the world known as “Magnificent Seven”: On Wednesday Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) will report, and on Thursday Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) will report.
Investors will be looking to get an idea of the strength of consumer spending, developments in AI projects, and how increased expenses due to inflation and political instability may affect future margins.
