Stock futures were mixed Tuesday after kicking off the week with massive gains fueled by a de-escalation in the trade spat between the U.S. and China.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were recently down 0.5%, with the bulk of that related to a 9% drop in shares of UnitedHealth Group (UNH) as the health insurance giant suspended its full-year outlook and announced that CEO Andrew Witty had stepped down. S&P 500 futures slipped 0.1%, while those linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq tacked on 0.1%.
Stocks soared on Monday following news that the U.S. and China had agreed to slash the massive tariffs they had imposed on one another for a period of 90 days while the countries work on a broader trade agreement. The news, at least temporarily, allayed fears that the tariffs could spur inflation, weigh on economic growth and cut into corporate profits.
Investors will be keeping an eye on this morning’s scheduled release of the Consumer Price Index for April. The tariffs that have been imposed on leading trading partners recently aren’t expected to show up in the April report, but the numbers will provide an indication of how much inflationary pressure there is heading into a period when import levies are likely to push up prices.
Mega-cap technology stocks, which were among the big gainers on Monday, were mostly higher in premarket trading, though the gains were modest. Apple (AAPL),Nvidia (NVDA), Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META), Tesla (TSLA) and Broadcom (AVGO) all rose less than 1%. Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOG) were down fractionally.
Shares of Coinbase Global (COIN) were up 10% this morning following news that the crypto exchange will be added to the S&P 500.
Other crypto-related stocks were also gaining ground as bitcoin rose to $103,600, up from an overnight low of $101,500. Major bitcoin holder Strategy (MSTR) and bitcoin miner MARA Holdings (MARA) were each up more than 1%.
Gold futures, which fell sharply on Monday as risk appetite returned following the U.S.-China trade news, were up 0.6% at $3,245 an ounce this morning. West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, rose 1.2% to $62.70 per barrel, extending a recent rally after oil prices hit a four-year low in late April.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of personal and business loans, was little changed at 4.45% ahead of the inflation report. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the performance of the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, slipped 0.2% to 101.58, after hitting its highest level in a month yesterday.
