Wall Street slips as trade uncertainty creates fog during busiest earnings week
By JIANG JUNZHE and MATT OTT, Associated Press
Wall Street drifted modestly lower before the opening bell as uncertainty over global trade seeps into the busiest week of earnings this quarter from major corporations, as well as a raft of economic indicators
Futures for the S&P 500 dropped 0.2% Monday, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked down 0.1%. Nasdaq futures also fell 0.2%.
Domino’s Pizza slipped 1.5% in premarket trading after it’s quarterly revenue came in slightly below Wall Street’s expectations. Wall Street was also caught off guard by a decline in U.S. same store sales. Domino’s closed 25 stores abroad while opening 17 in the U.S.
Domino’s did not mention tariffs or trade policy, but corporations across across multiple sectors have lowered or withdrawn their projections, citing the uncertainty created by Trump’s tariffs. Domino’s referred to the current global macroeconomic environment as “challenging.”
Trump’s on-again-off-again tariffs may be pushing households and businesses to alter their spending and freeze plans for long-term investment because of how quickly conditions can change, seemingly by the hour.
Despite a market rally last week, as talk of Trump firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell receded and hints emerged of a selective softening of his stance on tariffs, not much has changed, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said.
“But let’s not kid ourselves: this isn’t a clean pivot,” Innes said. “It’s hope and narrative management, plain and simple. What’s really driving the bounce isn’t hard policy action — it’s the perception of de-escalation.”
Trump says he’s on a path to cut several new trade deals in a few weeks — but has also suggested it’s “physically impossible” to hold all the needed meetings.
The hope is that if Trump rolls back some of his stiff tariffs, he could avert a recession that many investors see as otherwise likely because of his trade war.
Shares of Deliveroo, the food delivery service based in London, are hitting three-year highs after it received a $3.6 billion takeover offer from DoorDash. Deliveroo announced the bid after markets closed in Europe on Friday. Deliveroo on Monday suspended a share buyback program due to the offer.
Other major companies reporting earnings this week include four of the “Magnificent Seven” tech giants: Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Apple. Starbucks, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s also issue their latest financial results this week.
The Conference Board releases the results of its latest consumer confidence survey on Tuesday, while the U.S. government serves up reports throughout the week on consumer spending, inflation, gross domestic product and the broader employment situation.
Elsewhere, in Europe, Germany’s DAX added 0.4%, the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.6% and Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.2%.
Shares in China slipped despite more efforts by Beijing to boost the economy, as the status of talks between Washington and Beijing remained unclear.
Trump has said he’s actively negotiating with the Chinese government on tariffs — while the Chinese and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that talks have yet to start.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was nearly unchanged at 21,971.96, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.2% to 3,288.41.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 picked up 0.4% to 35,839.99 and the Kospi in South Korea was nearly unchanged at 2,548.86.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.4%, closing at 7,997.10. Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.8%
In energy trading, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 31 cents to $62.71 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, fell 30 cents to $65.50 per barrel.
In currencies, the U.S. dollar declined to 143.45 Japanese yen from 143.60 yen. The euro fell to $1.1347 from $1.1366.