U.S. stock index futures turned positive in pre-market trade on Tuesday, as sentiment towards technology shares was boosted by Nvidia stating that it will resume selling a major artificial intelligence chip in China, amid cooling Washington-Beijing trade tensions.
But gains in futures were limited by persistent caution over President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, while anticipation of major earnings and key consumer price index inflation data also weighed.
This followed a mildly positive session on Wall Street, as Trump signaled that he was open to negotiating on trade with major economies, even as he outlined steep tariffs against the country’s biggest trading partners.
S&P 500 Futures rose 0.1% to 6,317.75 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.3% to 23,097.75 points by 00:06 ET (04:06 GMT). Dow Jones Futures fell 0.1% to 44,662.0 points.
Nvidia says it will resume H20 chip sales in China Futures pared losses after market darling Nvidia said it will resume the sales of its H20 chip in China, and also announced a new graphical processing unit for Chinese markets.
Shares of the firm rose over 3% in 24-hour trade.
The move comes as CEO Jensen Huang visits China after recently meeting with top U.S. officials.
Huang told customers that Nvidia was "filing applications to sell the Nvidia H20 GPU again... the the U.S. government has assured Nvidia that licenses will be granted,” the world’s most valuable listed company said in a statement.
3rd party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Investing.com. See disclosure here or remove ads. The move comes amid some improvement in U.S.-China trade relations, after Washington recently lifted several chip technology export restrictions against China.
The two countries agreed in May and June to lower their respective trade tariffs against each other.
Wall St rangebound amid sparring over Trump tariffs Trump said on Monday that he was open to talks with U.S. trading partners, after he announced a slew of steep trade tariffs over the past week.
Trump over the weekend outlined a 30% tariff on Mexico and the European Union, drawing ire from both of the targeted economies. This followed the announcement of 35% tariffs on Canada, 25% tariffs on South Korea and Japan, and a 50% levy on copper, all effective from August 1.
The EU accused the U.S. of resisting efforts to reach a trade agreement, and warned of retaliatory measures if Trump proceeds with his tariffs. Bloomberg reported that the EU was preparing to tariff 72 billion euros ($84 billion) worth of American goods, including whisky, automobiles, and planes.
The targeted countries now have less than three weeks to hash out trade deals with Washington.
The trade uncertainty weighed on Wall Street, although investors held out some hope that Washington will agree to lower its proposed tariffs.
The S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 6,268.56 points, while the NASDAQ Composite rose 0.3% to 20,640.33 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 44,459.65 points.
3rd party Ad. Not an offer or recommendation by Investing.com. See disclosure here or remove ads. But customs data did show that Washington’s revenue from the tariffs was increasing substantially, presenting more fiscal income for the government.
Banks to kick off Q2 earnings; CPI data on tap Wall Street was on edge before a slew of major bank earnings due in the coming days. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), and Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK) will report their second quarter earnings on Tuesday, while Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) will report on Wednesday.
Other Wall Street majors including BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL), Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX), American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) are also set to report earnings this week, with focus squarely on whether Trump’s tariffs disrupted corporate earnings.
Consumer price index inflation data for June is due on Tuesday, and is also expected to provide more insight into the economic effects of Trump’s tariffs. Markets are watching for a rise in both headline and core CPI, amid bets that Trump’s tariffs will be inflationary.
The Federal Reserve has also warned of the effects of Trump’s tariffs on domestic prices, with sticky inflation likely to keep the central bank from cutting interest rates in the near-term.
