Stock futures are higher Tuesday morning, led by a tech sector rally, as investors await highly anticipated inflation numbers that are expected to show how tariffs are working their way through the economy.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were recently up 0.4% and 0.6%, respectively, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures hovered near unchanged. Stocks rose slightly Monday, boosting the Nasdaq Composite to a record high, as investors brushed aside concerns about the latest in a flurry of recent announcements from President Donald Trump on the tariff rates that the U.S. plans to impose on countries around the world.
Market participants are bracing for consumer price data, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, that’s expected to show that inflation accelerated in June. Economists have been predicting that tariffs will spur inflation, but data in recent months hasn’t indicated that price pressures have increased. A higher-than-expected reading today could squash hopes that the Federal Reserve will be in a position to cut interest rates any time soon.
Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) jumped 4.5% ahead of the opening bell as the chips giant announced it would resume shipments of its H20 AI chips to China, after receiving assurances from the White House that current restrictions on those exports would be lifted. The AI investor favorite last week became first company ever to reach $4 trillion in market capitaliztion,
Chip stocks were rallying across the board this morning. Among the noteworthy movers: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) surged more than 5%; Arm Holdings (ARM), Marvell Technology (MRVL) and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) each gained more than 2%; and Broadcom (AVGO), Intel (INTC) and Micron (MU) tacked on more than 1%.
Other mega-cap technology stocks were mostly higher in premarket trading, though the moves were small. Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG), Meta Platforms (META) and Tesla (TSLA) each rose less than 1%, while Microsoft (MSFT) fell slightly.
Earnings reporting season kicked off in earnest this morning with several large banks releasing their second-quarter results. Shares of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) fell slightly, while Wells Fargo (WFC) tumbled nearly 3% as investors digested their results.
Bitcoin was losing ground after hitting a series of record highs over the past week. The digital currency was at $116,400 recently, down from around $120,000 yesterday afternoon and an all-time high of $123,000 earlier Monday. Some of the crypto-related stocks that had surged along with bitcoin’s rise—including major bitcoin buyer Strategy (MSTR) and crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN)—were under pressure in early trading Tuesday.
Gold futures were up 0.3% at $3,370 an ounce, trading near a three-week high, while West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, slipped 0.6% to $66.60 per barrel, adding to yesterday’s steep decline.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, notably mortgages, was at 4.43%, unchanged from yesterday’s close. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the performance of the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, was also holding steady, at 98.07.
