Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on Feb. 10, 2025.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures traded lower Tuesday as investors looked ahead to testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, while they fret over a possible escalation in global trade tensions.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 115 points, or 0.2%. Futures tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.3% and 0.6%, respectively.
The central bank leader first will address the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, followed by an appearance the next day in front of the House Financial Services Committee. Both events will start at 10 a.m. ET and will begin with prepared remarks from Powell.
Powell’s testimony comes at a volatile time in Washington with President Donald Trump favoring tariffs against U.S. trading partners and with mixed messages coming from the administration on its approach to the Fed. Trump on Monday signed new tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to the U.S. The European Union responded by saying it would retaliate with levies of its own if the U.S. tacks on tariffs against products from the country bloc.
“Not only is it difficult to estimate the true impact of the new tariffs already announced, but it is even more challenging to project the fallout from what additional levies might be coming in the near-term,” wrote Ian Lyngen, head of U.S. rates strategy at BMO.
Powell “will undoubtedly be questioned about the implications from Trump’s initial tariffs and the potential for more,” Lyngen added. “We suspect that the most the market could ask from the chair is for clarity on whether the type of one-off price increases created by Trump’s levies thus far will translate into any response by the FOMC.”
Shortly after Trump took office, he said he would demand lower interest rates. However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week that the White House would not be pressuring the Fed to cut its benchmark borrowing rate and instead will be looking for the 10-year Treasury yield to fall as the administration institutes deregulation and spending cuts to control inflation.
Later this week, investors will receive fresh inflation data in the form of the latest consumer price index report due out Wednesday, while the producer price index will go out on Thursday.
