Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose on Tuesday ahead of the US open.
A welcome development after all three main stock indexes fell over 2% on Monday when Trump increased his criticism of Fed Chair Powell for not cutting interest rates, raising worries about the central bank’s independence and future monetary policy.
Investors seem to be pouring out of US assets with safe havens like Gold benefiting. It appears market participants are now starting to price in political risk for US assets, and this appears to be on the rise.
Looking to the US session and attention will shift temporarily to US corporate earnings. A wave of earnings reports today will offer more clues on how companies are dealing with tariff-related uncertainty and potential impacts on future profits.
Earlier in the day, Verizon (NYSE:VZ) dropped 3.6% after losing more subscribers than expected last quarter. Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) fell 8.7% following weak quarterly results as well.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), which is set to start earnings for the "Magnificent Seven" megacap stocks after the market closes, gained 0.8% in premarket trading. Some other companies reporting today are shown on the calendar below.
Source: Earningshub
For a technical view of the Dow Jones read: Dow Jones (DJIA) Technical Outlook: Value stocks do not provide a safe haven refuge
Gold prices remain some way off their Asian session highs and are hovering around the $3445/oz handle at the time of writing. I suspect the drop is largely down to profit taking as the overall narrative remains the same. For more read: Gold ETFs and retail investor activity: What’s driving the XAU/USD surge?
According to people familiar with the matter, BoJ officials see little need to change their present stance of gradually lifting interest rates for now, despite uncertainties stemming from US tariffs.
Economic Data Releases
For now focus will shift to earnings with a host of Fed Policymakers scheduled to speak later. It will be interesting to see whether they weigh in on the Trump-Powell situation and how they see Fed policy developing in upcoming meetings
Chart of the Day - US Dollar Index (DXY)
The US Dollar Index (DXY) has staged a mini recovery so far today, whether this will prove sustainable remains to be seen.
If the bounce continues, immediate resistance rests at 99.00 before the 99.20 and 99.57 may be areas to focus on.
Immediate support rests at 98.00 before the 97.70 handle comes into focus.
Given the RSI is about to break above the 30 handle this could be the confidence boost that bulls need for a sustained recovery, however this needs to materialize first. So keep a close watch.
US Dollar Index (DXY) Chart, April 22, 2025
Source: TradingView.com