(Reuters) -Futures tracking the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell on Wednesday as signs that U.S. tariff policies were clouding corporate outlooks and spurring inflation weighed on record-high markets.
U.S. semiconductor equipment makers were down after ASML warned it may not achieve growth in 2026 because of U.S. tariff uncertainty.
Applied Materials and Lam Research fell 3% each. KLA Corp was down 2.8%, while Teradyne lost 1%.
Earnings from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America will be in focus. On Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup posted better-than-expected results but remained cautious about U.S. tariff policies.
At 5:30 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 6 points, or 0.01%, U.S. S&P 500 E-minis were down 8.5 points, or 0.14%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 73 points, or 0.32%.
The cautious mood in the markets followed Tuesday’s inflation report, which pointed to rising prices fueled by President Donald Trump’s tariffs and dimmed hopes for deeper rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.
Money markets pricing show traders are betting on just 43 basis points of Fed easing by year-end, with a July rate cut off the table and the odds of a September move now a coin-flip.
Investors will keep a close watch on producer prices data scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. ET, searching for signs of rising costs at the factory gate.
Trade tensions also remained in focus after Trump announced a 19% tariff on Indonesian goods as part of a new deal, one of several rushed agreements ahead of an August 1 deadline for broader tariff hikes. Meanwhile, the European Union was preparing retaliatory measures should talks with Washington falter.
Still, investors have shown resilience in recent weeks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed at a record high on Tuesday, powered by a jump in Nvidia’s shares after the chip designer announced plans to resume sales of its H20 AI chips to China.
The stock, however, eased 0.8% in premarket trading.
Global Payments rose 6.7% after the Financial Times reported that activist hedge fund Elliott Management built a significant stake in the payments technology firm.
(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
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