Stocks poised to pad gains after Trump administration eases investor fears

Stock futures jumped after President Trump said Tuesday that he has no plans to oust Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and signaled a willingness to ease trade tensions with China. 

As of 8 a.m. EST, Dow futures were up 660 points, or 1.7%, signaling another sunny outlook for today’s trading. S&P 500 futures rose 122 points, or 2.3% while Nasdaq futures increased 2.7%.  

“The ratcheting down of the rhetoric from the White House allowed yesterday’s improved demand for U.S. assets to continue at the outset of trading in Asia last night,” said John Canavan, lead U.S. stock analyst for Oxford Economics.

A string of news updates from the Trump White House buoyed investor confidence after a sharper market downturn on Monday. 

President Trump said last night that tariffs on China will come down “substantially.” During a closed door meeting with investors on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told investors he views the trade war with China as unsustainable and said he expects there to be a “de-escalation.”

Mr. Trump, who previously said Powell’s termination “cannot come fast enough,” reversed course yesterday, telling reporters “I have no intention of firing him.” It would be difficult for Mr. Trump to oust Powell, but not impossible. The Federal Reserve Board is holding tight on cutting interest rates for now, with the next meeting slated for May.

Despite yesterday’s somewhat lackluster earnings call, Tesla shares rose 7% before the opening bell Wednesday. Elon Musk, who runs the electric vehicle company, said his work at Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, will “drop significantly” starting in May.

Other big tech giants like Nvidia also made gains before the market opened Wednesday morning. Shares for the company were up 5.5% before the bell.

Positive rhetoric on trade led the market indices surged over 2.5% on Tuesday, according to analysts from Piper Sandler, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing 1,000 points.

contributed to this report.