US Stock Futures Edged Higher as Markets Prepare for Inauguration-Shortened Week
US stock futures ticked up on Tuesday, as investors assessed a raft of executive orders from President Donald Trump and looked ahead to a fresh slate of corporate earnings. The main averages on Wall Street were closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The appointment of Commerce and Treasury department officials to investigate trade deficits and perceived unfairness in trade practices and recommend “appropriate” responses, such as a global supplemental tariff or other policies, has sparked concerns about potential trade wars. Additionally, Trump’s plan to end the practice of automatic birthright citizenship and his executive order to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization have also made an impact on the market.
In other news, the value of Trump’s new cryptocurrency, $TRUMP, surged to over $10 billion in market value after he was sworn in as president. $TRUMP, part of a memecoin, was released last Friday and has surged from less than $10 on Saturday to as high as $74.59 on Monday. Despite companies behind the token stating that the asset is not for investment, ethics experts have flagged concerns about its ability to raise billions of dollars with little oversight.
Los Angeles-based crypto project World Liberty Financial also announced it had completed an initial token sale, raising $300 million, according to Reuters. The value of the world’s most well-known cryptocurrency, , touched a fresh record high of $109,071, although it has since retreated from this peak.
Investors are awaiting the release of the next batch of quarterly earnings from some of America’s largest companies, including streaming video giant Netflix and financial services group Charles Schwab. Analysts have suggested that earnings could be a driver of equity returns this year, especially as robust economic data and uncertainty around Trump’s trade policies cloud the path ahead for potential Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.
Oil prices fell on Tuesday, with expiring in March dropping 0.5% to $79.79 a barrel, and falling 1.3% to $76.39 a barrel, as President Trump declared a national emergency and vowed to build up US energy infrastructure.
