Wall Street futures edge lower in light trading

Chicago Tribune

2 days ago

Wall Street futures were down marginally before the bell with earnings season winding down and much-anticipated jobs numbers landing later in the week. The Labor Department is reporting monthly job openings Tuesday.
Futures for the S&P 500 fell 0.3%, as did futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Nasdaq futures are off just 0.1%.
Constellation Energy climbed 14% after it announced a 20-year deal with Facebook parent company Meta to provide it with nuclear power from its Illinois plant as demand for energy to run artificial intelligence rises rapidly. A month ago, Google announced a similar partnership with Elementl Power.
Dollar General shares jumped 8% after it reported a far wider profit than analysts expected and record sales. After being forced to cut its outlook in a rough 2024, the bargain chain boosted its outlook for 2025 as off-price retailers shine in a weakening economy.
On the global front, Beijing and Washington dialed back trade friction slightly as the U.S. extended exemptions for tariffs on some Chinese goods, including solar manufacturing equipment, that U.S. industries rely on for their own production.
The U.S. Trade Representative extended those exemptions, which were due to expire on May 31, by three months through Aug. 31.
The U.S. side said President Donald Trump was expecting to speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Tuesday that they had no information on that.
Just a few weeks ago, the United States and China agreed to pause many tariff hikes that had threatened to drag the U.S. economy into a recession.
Trump has been warning that U.S. businesses and households could feel some pain as he tries to use tariffs to bring more manufacturing jobs back to the country, and their on-and-off rollout has created lots of uncertainty.
Markets in China advanced despite a report showing manufacturing activity slowed in May, even after China and the U.S. paused tariff hikes to allow time for talks.
The survey of Chinese purchasing managers, or PMI, by the financial media group Caixin showed factory output, new export orders, purchasing activity and staffing all declined last month. Incoming new work contracted at the quickest pace in over two-and-a-half years. the report said.
The situation is 'a body blow to the backbone of China's economy: small and mid-sized exporters now caught in a brutal vice grip between faltering global demand and a Washington-led tariff regime that's more carrot-and-stick diplomacy than ceasefire,' Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
However, as is often the case, investors shrugged off the bad news with the assumption that it might raise the likelihood of more market support from Beijing.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.5% to 23,512.49, while the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.4% to 3,361.98.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 edged 0.1% lower to 37,446.81.
South Korean markets were closed for a snap presidential election triggered by the ouster of Yoon Suk Yeol, a conservative who now faces an explosive trial on rebellion charges over his short-lived imposition of martial law in December.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.6% to 8,466.70. In Taiwan, the Taiex gained 0.6%, while India's Sensex lost 0.5%.
In midday European trading, Germany's DAX was unchanged, while the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.3% and Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.1%.
U.S. benchmark crude oil was up 36 cents at $62.88 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 33 cents to $64.96 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 143.10 Japanese yen from 142.71 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1391 from $1.1443.