Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on Feb. 10, 2025.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures traded lower Tuesday as investors looked ahead to testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell while awaiting key inflation reports due later in the week.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 80 points, or 0.2%. Futures tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.3% and 0.4%, respectively.
The central bank leader first will address the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, followed by an appearance the next day in front of the House Financial Services Committee. Both events will start at 10 a.m. ET and will begin with prepared remarks from Powell.
Powell’s testimony comes at a volatile time in Washington with President Donald Trump favoring tariffs against U.S. trading partners and with mixed messages coming from the administration on its approach to the Fed.
Shortly after Trump took office, he said he would demand lower interest rates. However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last week that the White House would not be pressuring the Fed to cut its benchmark borrowing rate and instead will be looking for the 10-year Treasury yield to fall as the administration institutes deregulation and spending cuts to control inflation.
Stocks are coming off a winning session as traders looked past new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
Later this week, investors will receive fresh inflation data in the form of the latest consumer price index report due out Wednesday, while the producer price index will go out on Thursday.
The true economic effect of the tariffs may only be seen with future inflation data, said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. “If the tariffs go into effect for a while, disrupt supply chains and result in increased inflation, then I would say investors are going to worry,” he said.
“But right now — especially with CPI numbers on Wednesday and PPI on Thursday expected to show year-on-year declines in both the headline and the core readings — that would end up providing a support underneath the market and allow it to continue to creep higher,” Stovall added.
