Stock futures were trading in the red Friday as the lack of clarity surrounding President Donald Trump’s plan to impose so-called reciprocal tariffs put investors in an uncertain mood.
Trump signed a memo ordering his team to start drawing up plans for equalizing levies against any country currently taxing imports from the U.S. Thursday. Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick said the studies may not be completed until April 1.
For the market, that delay has cemented the idea that Trump may eventually water down his tariff plans–as he did with Canada and Mexico earlier this month.
“From a market perspective, how are traders meant to price this in? The short answer to this question is that they are unwilling to do so,” Kathleen Brooks, research director at the online brokerage XTB, said Friday, adding that movements in both stocks and bonds suggested investors aren’t fretting about Trump’s tariffs right now.
Inflation data published this week also clouds the outlook for markets. Monthly consumer and producer prices came in hotter than expected, although some economists believe the reports augur well for the Federal Reserve’s preferred core personal-consumption expenditures measure, which excludes volatile food and energy costs. The January PCE report is due out Feb. 28.
Futures tracking the three blue-chip U.S. indexes were edging lower Friday. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 149 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 futures fell 0.2%, with the benchmark gauge on the brink of a record high, and Nasdaq 100 futures slid 0.1%.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was flat at 4.533%. The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the buck against 16 other currencies, fell 0.1% as investors bet that Trump would scale back his tariff plans.
