(Reuters) -Wall Street futures edged lower on Tuesday as investors braced for a busy day of earnings while navigating uncertainties around U.S. trade negotiations with key partners.
At 05:50 a.m. ET, S&P 500 E-minis were down 7 points, or 0.11%, Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 60 points, or 0.25%, and Dow E-minis were up 1 point, or 0%.
The cautious moves follow a volatile session on Monday, when the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq climbed to record closing highs on strength in megacaps including Alphabet ahead of its quarterly results.
Attention will be on defense firms RTX and Lockheed Martin on the day, along with consumer companies Coca-Cola and Philip Morris International, all set to report before the opening bell.
A solid earnings season and signs of a resilient economy have pushed the main U.S. stock indexes to all-time highs despite concerns about President Donald Trump’s shifting tariff policies.
Negotiations appeared to remain deadlocked as the European Union explores a wider array of possible countermeasures against the U.S. Meanwhile, prospects of an interim trade deal between India and the United States have dimmed, Indian government sources said.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent denied any urgency to strike deals just to meet Trump’s August 1 deadline.
Still, positive earnings surprises kept markets near peaks. Analysts on average expect S&P 500 companies to report a 6.7% increase in earnings for the second quarter, with Big Tech driving much of that gain, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Google-parent Alphabet and EV-maker Tesla will inaugurate quarterly results for the “Magnificent Seven” stocks on Wednesday, setting the tone for Wall Street.
Shares of Tesla were down 0.56% in premarket trading, having fallen about 19% so far in 2025 amid CEO Elon Musk’s political involvement and the challenges its core business faces.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at 8:30 a.m. ET will be closely watched for clues about the central bank’s next policy move.
After a slew of mixed economic data last week, traders have ruled out the possibility of an interest-rate cut next week and see a 56.3% chance of a reduction in September, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
The Fed’s reluctance to cut borrowing costs has drawn criticism from the Trump administration, sparking speculation the central bank’s independence is threatened and that Powell will be replaced. Bessent claimed on Monday he wanted to review the Fed’s performance as an institution.
Among other movers, U.S. coal miners Peabody Energy and Warrior Met Coal were up 4.8% and 4.1%, respectively, as China’s coking coal prices surged amid market speculation about government inspections in major production hubs.
(Reporting by Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
