The Dow futures are currently trading with losses of 300 points, S&P 500 futures are down 52 points, while those linked to the Nasdaq are also trading with losses of 250 points.
Markets are coming to terms with the Supreme Court decision on Friday, which termed the Trump administration’s moves to impose reciprocal tariffs on countries as “illegal” with a 6-3 majority, a decision Trump called “deeply disappointing” and “extremely Anti-American.”
In response, Trump immediately announced a 10% universal tariff rate for countries doing business with the US for a temporary period of 150 days, which he raised to 15% over the weekend.
Experts see further tariff-linked uncertainties as they assess the next steps that the Administration will take. What also needs to be seen is the economic impact of a refund-like scenario. The Supreme Court has left the decision of refunds to the lower courts, which analysts peg to be between $85 billion to as high as $175 billion.
The other major event that the markets are assessing are the developments surrounding Iran. Oman’s foreign minister recently announced that the next round of talks will take place in Geneva on Thursday. Over the weekend, Trump mentioned that he will decide in 10-15 days whether or not to attack Iran, but prospects of a deal still remain in place, although Iran has assessed that their right to peaceful Uranium enrichment must be recognized.
As a result of potential progress on talks, Oil prices are cooling off slightly this morning, with Brent Crude down 1% but holding on to the $71 per barrel mark.
This is an important week for the US markets as Donald Trump will be making his State of the Union address on Tuesday. Tech shares will also be in the spotlight as Nvidia and Salesforce will be reporting results on Wednesday after market closing hours. Nvidia, being the AI darling that it has emerged as over the last two years, while Salesforce has been in the eye of storm recently after Anthropic’s new tools emerged as a significant threat to business.
Multiple Fed officials will be speaking this week, including Lisa Cook and Governor Christopher Waller. The Producer Price Index (PPI) data will be reported on Friday.
Amidst all of these uncertainties, Gold and Silver prices are still holding on to gains, with Gold trading above $5,100 an ounce in the spot market, while Silver trading around the $86 an ounce mark.
