(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures dipped on Friday, as uncertainty about President Donald Trump’s trade policies prevailed, while investors also awaited data and corporate earnings reports that could throw light on the state of the economy.
At 5:47 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 78 points, or 0.17%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 12 points, or 0.20% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 46.5 points, or 0.21%.
Tariffs are high on investors’ minds after Trump referred to the policies multiple times at separate events this week but did little to lay out entire details of the surcharges he plans to impose on trade partners of the United States.
The president has said tariffs on Mexico, Canada, China and the European Union could be announced on Feb. 1, but analysts say major plans could be announced on April 1 – the date by when federal agencies are expected to complete reviews of a range of trade issues.
Investors are concerned that tariffs could spark a global trade war, add to inflation pressures and slow the pace of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. The central bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged next week at its first policy meeting of the year.
Later in the day, markets will assess a preliminary private survey on manufacturing and services activity for January and the University of Michigan’s final estimate on consumer sentiment.
In premarket trading, Boeing lost 1.7% after warning that it expects a fourth-quarter loss of about $4 billion to close a year marred by a production quality crisis, stricter regulatory scrutiny, supply chain delays and a crippling strike by West Coast factory workers. The airplane maker is expected to report quarterly results on Tuesday.
The stock is up about 1% in January after logging its biggest annual decline since the pandemic in 2024.
Quarterly earnings reports from Verizon, American Express and NextEra Energy are due before markets open.
Investors were also taking a pause after the benchmark S&P 500 closed Thursday’s session at a record high for the second time in over a month after Trump called for taxes, oil prices and interest rates to be lowered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
On a weekly basis, Wall Street’s main indexes are set for their second straight week of advances, with the blue-chip Dow on track for its biggest weekly jump since October 2022, aided by Trump’s artificial intelligence investment plans, signs of cooling inflation and robust earnings from big banks in the previous week.
Among others, Texas Instruments dropped 4.9% after forecasting first-quarter profit below analysts’ estimates, as the analog chipmaker grapples with an inventory buildup in its key automotive and industrial markets.
The following week will see quarterly reports from megacaps such as Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Tesla. The companies’ stocks were flat to marginally higher.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies such as JD.Com rose 3.1%, Xpeng added 2.9% and Alibaba climbed 1.1% after Trump suggested in an interview that tariffs against China could be avoided.
(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
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