U.S. stock futures tied to the Dow Jones, Nasdaq 100, and S&P 500 indices fell on Wednesday, following Tuesday’s higher close.
Chip stocks were under pressure after stocks like Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA), Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), and Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) slipped in pre-market trading, following Tuesday’s gains.
At the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting in the Philippines, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that "The problem we’re having right now is that they’re not serious about talks.” This pushed crude oil prices higher.
Tech optimism offset anxieties surrounding the Iran conflict and U.S. trade policy. However, on Monday, President Donald Trump sparked renewed trade war fears by imposing 50% tariffs on select Canadian goods, including beer, milk, and chemicals.
Additionally, during a Senate hearing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended a $70 billion supplemental funding request as the Pentagon raised its estimated cost for the U.S.-Israel war against Iran to $37.5 billion.
Also, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), IBM (NYSE:IBM), and Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN) are all set to report Wednesday after the closing bell.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.62%, and the two-year bond was at 4.25%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool’s projections show markets pricing a 78.1% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged during July’s meeting.
| Index | Performance (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | -0.07% |
| S&P 500 | -0.30% |
| Nasdaq 100 | -0.70% |
| Russell 2000 | -0.20% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, were lower in premarket on Wednesday. The SPY was down 0.19% at $746.85, while the QQQ declined by 0.58% to $704.86.
Health care, information technology, and energy stocks recorded the biggest gains on Tuesday, while communication services and consumer staples stocks bucked the broader market trend to close the session lower.
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Dow Jones | 0.74% | 52,224.64 |
| S&P 500 | 0.89% | 7,509.20 |
| Nasdaq Composite | 1.29% | 25,837.21 |
| Russell 2000 | 1.53% | 2,987.40 |
Professor Jeremy Siegel views the current U.S. economy and stock market as expanding at a resilient, healthy pace, characterizing the recent pullback in speculative tech shares as a mature shift rather than a market downturn.
Regarding the broader economy, Siegel highlights resilient GDP growth, projected around 2% to 2.5%, and moderating inflation, noting that “housing inflation… is finally slowing in a meaningful way,” which keeps core disinflation on track provided energy prices stabilize.
While money supply growth and rising oil prices pose minor inflation risks that could spark additional Fed policy tightening, overall fundamentals remain robust.
On the stock market, Siegel sees the sharp rotation out of high-flying semiconductor and AI stocks as a positive sign of market discipline. He cautions that “[a] doubling of earnings does not necessarily justify a doubling in a stock’s price,” but maintains that “AI remains one of the most transformational technologies of our generation.”
Ultimately, he views the rotation as a healthy evolution: “The recent pullback in speculative AI leaders should be viewed less as the end of the bull market than as its maturation.”
Here’s what investors will be keeping an eye on.
Crude Oil WTI futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 4.08% to hover around $87.78 per barrel.
Gold Spot US Dollar rose 0.99% to hover around $4,118.11 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.07% lower at the 101.1000 level.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 0.42% lower at $65,919.30 per coin over the last 24 hours.
Asian markets closed mixed on Wednesday, as Australia’s ASX 200 and South Korea’s Kospi indices rose. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, India’s Nifty 50, China’s CSI 300, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 indices fell. European markets were higher in early trade.
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