The premarket Wall Street trading showed divergent results on Wednesday because corporate earnings reports emerged while President Donald Trump maintained his trade war stance. The S&P 500 futures decreased by 0.3% while Nasdaq futures dropped 0.5% and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures increased by 0.1%. The stock price of Starbucks dropped by 9% because the company failed to meet Q2 sales and profit expectations although it achieved its first sales increase since 2021. Visa experienced a slight increase in value because it exceeded Wall Street’s Q2 projections while showing consumer spending strength despite decreased confidence from tariffs.
Microsoft and Meta will release their Q2 results after market hours but their CEOs have warned about maintaining profit margins because of tariff-related uncertainties. The combination of 145% tariffs imposed by Trump threatens to create a trade freeze and price inflation which might lead to a recession. The Commerce Department plans to release its Q1 GDP forecast which indicates that growth will fall below 1% while showing consumer spending data through the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure.
The eurozone achieved 0.4% Q1 growth but tariff concerns dominated the market. The DAX index of Germany and the CAC 40 index of Paris increased 0.7% because a new coalition agreement led to Friedrich Merz becoming chancellor. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.2%. The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo rose by 0.6% as automakers received mixed results after Trump relaxed certain auto tariff restrictions. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased by 0.5% yet the Shanghai Composite index decreased by 0.2% because Chinese export orders showed signs of weakening. The price of U.S. crude oil decreased to $59.97 per barrel because of trade-related demand uncertainties.
