US stock futures dip as investors weigh impact of tariff uncertainty

Wall Street’s main indexes were poised to open lower on April 10, pulling back after a dramatic rally the previous day sparked by US President Donald Trump’s temporary rollback of steep tariffs on dozens of countries.

Trump's unexpected policy reversal came less than 24 hours after his administration implemented sweeping new tariffs, which had rattled global markets, Caliber.Az reports citing foreign media.

The decision to pause the tariffs for 90 days lifted investor sentiment, pushing the S&P 500 to its largest single-day percentage gain since 2008 and the Nasdaq to its biggest one-day jump since 2001.

However, optimism was tempered on April 10 as investors grappled with the ongoing trade tensions, particularly between the US and China. Trump raised tariffs on Chinese imports to 125 per cent from 104 per cent, while Beijing responded with 84 per cent tariffs on US goods.

"The trade war is now turning into a direct confrontation between the US and China...," analysts at Rabobank said. "We could again be seeing escalation and de-escalation at the same time, pulling markets in different directions."

Adding to the complexity, the European Union also announced a 90-day pause on its planned counter-tariffs on US goods, originally scheduled for April 15.

US stock futures came off session lows after inflation data showed the Consumer Price Index (CPI) unexpectedly declined by 0.1 per cent in March and rose 2.4 per cent year-over-year. Economists had expected a monthly increase of 0.1 per cent and a 2.6 per cent annual rise.

"(The CPI data) increases the chances that the Fed can cut rates at some point, either due to the tariffs or due to the jobs market, because inflation's coming down," said Larry Tentarelli, chief technical strategist at Blue Chip Daily Trend Report.

At 8:43 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 606 points (1.48 per cent), S&P 500 E-minis fell 108.75 points (1.98 per cent), and Nasdaq 100 E-minis dropped 472.25 points (2.45 per cent).

Despite April 9 surge, the S&P 500 and Dow remain about 4 pr cent below pre-tariff announcement levels.

Meanwhile, key growth stocks like Tesla and Nvidia slid more than 3 per cent in premarket trading, while General Motors and Ford dropped about 4 per cent following downgrades from UBS and Goldman Sachs.

Capri Holdings gained 5.3 per cent after Prada agreed to buy Versace in a $1.375 billion deal.

Investors will closely monitor comments from several Federal Reserve officials and upcoming bank earnings reports for further market direction.

By Vafa Guliyeva