A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the opening bell on March 5, 2025, in New York City.
Timothy A. Clary | Afp | Getty Images
Stock futures climbed on Wednesday after President Donald Trump said he doesn't plan to remove Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell from his post as central bank leader. They also got a boost as Trump also signaled tariffs on Chinese imports may go down.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 683 points, or 1.7%. popped 2.3%, while Nasdaq-100 futures added 2.8%.
The rally in futures came after Trump said late Tuesday that he has "no intention" of firing Powell, whose term as Fed chair will end in May 2026.
The comment is a reversal of sorts for the president, who fired off barbs against Powell as recently as Monday, calling the central bank leader a "major loser" and demanding that interest rates come down. Just last week, Trump said in a Truth Social post that Powell's "termination cannot come fast enough."
Trump also said he's willing to take a less confrontational approach to trade talks with China, noting that the current 145% tariff on Chinese imports is "very high, and it won't be that high. ... No, it won't be anywhere near that high. It'll come down substantially. But it won't be zero."
Stocks with higher exposure to China that have sold off in recent weeks rallied in the premarket on Trump's softer stance. This included "Magnificent Seven" titans Apple and Nvidia, which were up 3% and 6%, respectively.
Shares of Tesla popped 7% also due to easing tariff pressures and after CEO Elon Musk said during the company's Tuesday earnings call that his time spent running Trump's Department of Government Efficiency will drop "significantly" starting next month.
Stocks are coming off of a winning session, with the 30-stock Dow surging more than 1,000 points to end a four-day losing streak. Both the and the Nasdaq Composite jumped more than 2%.
Investor sentiment on Tuesday was aided by comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who hinted at the possibility of "de-escalation" in Trump's trade war with China. "No one thinks the current status quo is sustainable," Bessent said while speaking with a group of investors on Tuesday at a meeting hosted by JPMorgan Chase, according to a person in the room.
Even as stocks surged in the session, jittery investors have been flocking toward safe-haven assets in recent weeks. Gold futures are up more than 8% in April, and they touched an all-time high of $3,509.90 on Tuesday.
"There is a ton of money hiding out in gold at the moment, so there's plenty of unproductive money that will find its way back into the market at some point," said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group. "The money is there, it's just yellow at the moment."
China indicates openness to trade talks with U.S.
In the latest development on potential de-escalation of the global trade war, China signaled that it was open to trade talks with the U.S.
However, the nation also underscored that it would not negotiate if the U.S. continued to make threats.
"China's attitude towards the tariff war launched by the U.S. is quite clear: We don't want to fight, but we are not afraid of it. If we fight, we will fight to the end; if we talk, the door is wide open," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun, according to Dow Jones.
— Lisa Kailai Han
Morgan Stanley calls RTX sell-off 'overdone'
Morgan Stanley see an opportunity for investors in RTX after Tuesday's sell-off.
Analyst Kristine Liwag upgraded shares of the defense stock to overweight from equal-weight. Liwag's $135 price target reflects 18.7% upside over Tuesday's close.
Liwag's call comes after shares dropped nearly 10% on Tuesday. Executive comments about the impact of tariffs appeared to overshadow a better-than-expected earnings report for the first-quarter.
"We see risk reward skew more positive after yesterday's pullback," Liwag wrote to clients in her upgrade, in which she also called the stock's decline "overdone."
RTX shares popped 2% in premarket trading on Wednesday. The stock is down almost 2% year to date.
— Alex Harring
Trump hits that China tariffs could come down
President Donald Trump late Tuesday said he's willing to take a less confrontational approach to trade talks with China, noting that the current 145% tariff on Chinese imports is "very high, and it won't be that high. ... No, it won't be anywhere near that high. It'll come down substantially. But it won't be zero."
This is a departure from the stern rhetoric on U.S.-China trade coming from the White House in recent weeks. These tensions have contributed to U.S. markets tumbling this month. The S&P 500 is down 5% in April.
— Fred Imbert
AT&T rises after reaffirming full-year earnings guidance
shares popped more than 3% after the telecom giant maintained its full-year earnings guidance, which puts the company's bottom line in a range of $1.97 per share and $2.07 per share, excluding certain items. The company also reported first-quarter figures that were about in line with analyst expectations, based on a FactSet consensus.
— Fred Imbert
Bitcoin ETFs see their biggest day since January 17
Exchange-traded funds tracking the price of bitcoin saw a spike in inflows as interest in the cryptocurrency's potential as a hedge strengthened amid continued stock market turbulence and a diving dollar.
Bitcoin ETFs logged $936.43 million in daily inflows Tuesday, their biggest day since Jan. 17., according to data from SoSoValue. The action was led by the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF and Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund.
Tuesday was the third consecutive trading session to see positive flows for bitcoin ETFs, and the fifth positive day in the last six.
— Tanaya Macheel
Hong Kong stocks lead gains in Asia on hopes of de-escalation in U.S.-China tensions
Asia-Pacific markets climbed Wednesday, after all three key benchmarks on Wall Street advanced overnight on optimism that U.S.-China trade tensions could ease.
This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump indicated that final tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S. "won’t be anywhere near as high as 145%." However, he added that the duties "won’t be 0%."
Trump also said he has "no intention"to fire Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell before his term ends, alleviating investors' concerns over the central bank's independence.
Hong Kong stocks led gains in the region. TheHang Seng Indexsoared 2.37% to end the day at 22,072.62, while theHang Seng Tech Indexsurged 3.07% to 5,049.40. Meanwhile, Mainland China'sCSI 300 indexended the day flat at 3,786.88.
Over in Japan, the benchmarkNikkei 225advanced 1.89% to end the day at 34,868.63, while the broader Topix indexadded 2.06% to 2,584.32.
In South Korea, theKospiindex ended the day 1.57% higher at 2,525.56 while the small-cap Kosdaq increased 1.39% to 726.08.
India's benchmarkNifty 50moved up 0.52% while the broader BSE Sensex was up 0.45% as at 2.31 p.m. Indian Standard Time.
Australia's rose 1.33% to end the day at 7,920.50.
— Amala Balakrishner
Trump says he doesn’t plan to get rid of Fed Chair Jerome Powell
President Donald Trump said that he has "no intention" of firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
When asked whether he had intentions of removing the central bank leader, Trump said, "None whatsoever." The president spoke at the Oval Office late Tuesday.
Stock futures opened sharply higher after Trump's comments, with Dow futures surging 500 points.
Powell's term as Fed chair will end in May 2026.
—Kevin Breuninger, Darla Mercado
Stocks making the biggest moves after hours
Check out some of the companies making headlines in extended trading:
- Tesla — Shares were marginally lower in extended trading after first-quarter results missed analysts' estimates on the top and bottom lines. The electric vehicle company earned an adjusted 27 cents per share on revenue of $19.34 billion, while analysts polled by LSEG were looking for 39 cents per share in earnings and $21.11 billion in revenue.
- Enphase Energy — The energy technology company sank more than 12% after first-quarter results missed Wall Street estimates. Enphase reported adjusted earnings of 68 cents per share on revenue of $356 million, while analysts surveyed by LSEG forecast earnings of 70 cents per share and $361 million in revenue. The low end of Enphase's second-quarter revenue outlook also fell short of analysts' estimates.
- Intuitive Surgical — The biotechnology stock lost almost 6%. The company warned that its non-GAAP gross profit margin for 2025 will range from 65% to 66.5% of revenue, down from 69.1% in 2024, reflecting estimated effects from tariffs. The outlook overshadowed beats on the top and bottom lines for the first quarter.
Read the full list here.
— Brian Evans
Stock futures rise
Stock futures were higher on Tuesday, as investors looked to extend gains for U.S. equities seen earlier in the day.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 added 1.4%, while Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 1.8%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 486 points, or 1.2%.
— Brian Evans
