Futures tracking Wall Street’s main indexes were subdued on Thursday, with auto stocks set to extend losses after President Donald Trump’s latest tariff salvo.
In a late-night announcement on Wednesday, Trump unveiled his plan to implement 25% tariffs on imported cars and light trucks effective next week, escalating global trade tensions.
The benchmark S&P 500 index and the tech-focused Nasdaq broke their longest winning streak in over a month in the previous session, as investors adopted a risk-averse stance ahead of the auto tariff announcement.
General Motors slid another 6.5% in premarket trading on Thursday, while Ford fell 2.9%. Tesla was little changed.
“Investors will be frustrated by this announcement with few details… as this 25% number is hard to digest,” Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives said.
Uncertainty around Trump’s trade policies has roiled Wall Street for weeks on concerns it could upend supply chains and hurt global growth. Market participants are now growing cautious ahead of the April 2 deadline when reciprocal tariffs are set to take effect.
At 5:25 a.m. ET, U.S. S&P 500 E-minis were up 0.75 points, or 0.01%, Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 16.5 points, or 0.1%, Dow E-minis were up 52 points, or 0.12%.
At 8:30 a.m. ET, the market will get a reading of fourth-quarter’s final GDP figures, with expectations set for a confirmation of a 2.3% uptick. Simultaneously, the initial jobless claims for the week of March 22 will be unveiled.
However, the centerpiece of the week’s economic indicators will be the personal consumption expenditures price index — the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation — scheduled for release on Friday.
(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
