Stock market today: S&P 500, Nasdaq futures edge up as Wall Street weighs Trump's tariff threat

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US stock futures nudged mostly higher on Tuesday as investors weighed President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose fresh tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico, with Federal Reserve minutes on deck.

S&P 500 futures (ES=F) were up roughly 0.2%, while contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) were about 0.3% higher. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) lagged, down 0.3% after the index notched its latest record.

Markets were initially caught off guard by Trump’s pledge late Monday to slap big tariffs on the US’s biggest trading partners from his first day in office. His comments fired up trade war fears and dented Wall Street hopes that Treasury secretary nominee Scott Bessent would rein in any extreme moves by the new administration.

Wall Street appeared to take Trump’s move in its stride, with stocks mostly holding onto the Bessent-bounce gains on Monday that lifted the Dow to a record high. Debate focused on Trump’s record as president of using policy threats as a negotiation starting point, then not fully delivering on them.

Meanwhile, European carmaker stocks fell on the heels of Trump’s “America First” push. Nissan and Honda Motor (HMC), which have auto plants in Mexico, came under pressure. In currencies, the Mexican peso and the Canadian dollar dropped sharply as the US dollar rallied.

In a more predictable vein, the release of Fed minutes later on Tuesday will be scoured for clues to the depth and pace of interest rate cuts in the coming year. Several policymakers have flagged they’re expecting to move more slowly than previously planned. The minutes will set the stage for the October reading of the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, on Wednesday.

On the crypto front, bitcoin (BTC-USD) retreated to trade around $91,565 per token as its bid for the $100,000 milestone ran out of juice, The biggest digital currency has notched its longest losing streak since Trump’s election win boosted optimism around crypto.

LIVE 3 updates

  • Home price growth slowed in September

    US home prices rose in September, but the pace of price increases moderated on an annual basis.

    The S&P Case-Shiller National Home Price Index increased 3.9% from a year ago, a smaller increase from the 4.2% annual gain seen in August.

    Prices rose 0.3% over the prior month in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, unchanged from August’s monthly increase.

    The index tracking home prices in the 20 largest metropolitan areas gained 0.2% in September from August, lower than Bloomberg consensus estimate of 0.3% and August’’s 0.4%. The 20-city index jumped 4.6% compared to last September. August’s annual gain was 5.2%.

    “Home price growth stalled in the third quarter, after a steady start to 2024,” Brian Luke, head of commodities, real & digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices, wrote in a press release. “The slight downtick could be attributed to technical factors as the seasonally adjusted figures boasted a 16th consecutive all-time high.”

  • Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.

    Economic data: S&P CoreLogic 20-city (August); New home sales (October); Conference Board Consumer Confidence (November); Richmond Fed manufacturing index (November), FOMC Meeting Minutes (November meeting)

    Earnings: Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), Autodesk (ADSK), Best Buy (BBY), Burlington Stores (BURL), CrowdStrike (CRWD), Dell (DELL), HP (HPQ), Kohl’s (KSS), Manchester United (MANU), Urban Outfitters (URBN), Workday (WDAY)

    Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:

    Wall Street still hasn’t got a handle on Trump

    US finalizes $7.86B chips manufacturing award for Intel

    Trump pledges 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, 35% on China

    How a breakup could upend Google (and the tech world)

    Best Buy stock sinks after broad earnings miss

    Bitcoin retreats from $100K in worst spell since Trump’s win

    4 ways Bessent’s honeymoon as Trump’s Treasury pick could end

  • Flash analysis: Another ugly quarter from Best Buy

    Looking for some pre-holiday cheer?

    Well, you won’t find any in earnings out of Best Buy (BBY) this morning!

    A couple things that stood out:

    I can’t say the report is surprising, given the discretionary category weakness we have seen in earnings reports this month from Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), Home Depot (HD), and Lowe’s (LOW). But the declines for Best Buy suggest it will have a slog of a holiday season.

    Yahoo Finance senior reporter Brooke DiPalma will have coverage on Best Buy throughout the morning, so stay plugged in here. Yahoo Finance Live will also be serving up analysis out of the gate at 9 a.m. ET today — which you can catch here.