Investing.com - U.S. stock futures edge down on Tuesday following a positive day on Wall Street in the previous session. U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are anticipated to hold a key phone call on a possible Ukraine peace deal. Elsewhere, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang is seen backing the chipmaker’s competitiveness against emerging rivals during an address at its GTC conference, while Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) executives are expected lay out their vision for the Photoshop-owner’s artificial intelligence strategy during a meeting with analysts.
1. Futures inch lower
U.S. stock futures pointed lower after equities showed signs of stablizing in the prior session following weeks of volatile trading.
By 04:24 ET (08:24 GMT), the Dow futures contract had dipped by 67 points or 0.2%, S&P 500 futures had fallen by 8 points or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures had dropped 35 points or 0.2%.
The main indices rose on Monday, fueled by investors hunting for bargains in the wake of a multi-week plunge in stock markets. Traders were also gauging data showing a slight bounce in retail sales in February -- albeit below expectations -- and took some relief from a stoppage in what has recently been a near-constant stream of developments around President Trump’s tariff plans.
Media reports have also suggested that the White House is reassessing its approach to trade, which has until now featured a barrage of threats from Trump and on-again, off-again levies on traditional U.S. allies Canada and Mexico. Duties on imports from China have increased as well.
2. Trump-Putin call
Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are due to hold a highly-anticipated phone call on Tuesday, with the two likely to discuss a possible deal to end the war in Ukraine.
Ahead of the discussion, Trump said "many elements" of a peace agreement were in place, although he conceded that "much remains" to worked out. The prospect of a deal -- and the potential lifting of longstanding sanctions on Russian energy -- could help push down European gas prices and give some lift to the euro.
Over the weekend, Trump noted that he would talk about "land" and "power plants" with Putin, adding that they were already negotiating "dividing up certain assets."
A Kremlin spokesperson has declined to comment on what will be discussed between Trump and Putin, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an address on Monday that "this proposal could have implemented long ago" and spared "human lives."
3. Huang address at Nvidia’s GTC
Markets will be keeping close tabs on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote address at the chipmaking giant’s GTC conference in California.
The comments are likely to include Huang’s thoughts on the path ahead for the multi-year boom in enthusiasm around artificial intelligence that has made Nvidia into one of the world’s most valuable companies.
Earlier this year, the emergence of a low-cost AI model from China’s DeepSeek heightened concerns over the necessity of -- and eventual returns on -- massive spending by the tech industry’s biggest players on the cutting-edge processors made by Nvidia and its peers.
Pressure has grown on some of Nvidia’s largest clients to pull back on the AI investments which have underpinned a quadrupling in its revenue over the past three years to $130.5 billion. The group is now worth almost $3 trillion, and has turned into a major bellwether for the broader U.S. stock market.
Meanwhile, Nvidia is facing a transition in the AI market away from "training," which involves feeding large amounts of data to AI models, to "inference" -- when the model produces its own answers. Nvidia owns a vast majority of the training market, but competition in inference is intensifying.
Media reports have said that Huang may reveal details around a fresh chip system called Vera Rubin, with the product tipped to go into mass production later this year. Its prior offering, Blackwell, was announced around the same time last year, but is still slowly becoming available following production delays that have hit Nvidia’s margins.
4. Adobe Summit analyst meeting
Adobe executives are expected to provide more insight into their AI strategy during a meeting with analysts at the Photoshop-owner’s digital experience conference.
Shares in the maker of software for creative professionals slumped after the company reported its latest earnings last week, as investors poured over a tepid but in line outlook.
AI has become a central focus for Adobe, with the nascent technology seen as a major enhancement for its products and a path towards fending off start-up rivals in an increasingly competitive market. However, investors are eager for the group to reveal when it expects to monetize its heavy expenditures on folding AI tools into its suite of editing products.
"Management will look to repair some of the damaged investor confidence by outlining a strategy for AI," analysts at Vital Knowledge said in a note to clients.
5. German debt vote scheduled
Germany’s lower house of parliament is set to vote on Tuesday on a proposed massive increase in state borrowing in order to fund a surge in defence spending, which could boost Europe’s largest economy and stimulate growth across the region.
A two-thirds majority is required to pass the legislation to change the constitutionally enshrined borrowing rules to allow higher spending on security, as well as creating a 500 billion euro fund for infrastructure.
Should the legislation pass the Bundestag lower house of parliament, it still has to go to the Bundesrat upper house, which represents the governments of the 16 states that make up Germany.
Optimism about Germany’s fiscal reset plan has seen money pour into Europe, with the DAX index leading the way, gaining more than 16% year to date.