Anxiety returned to Wall Street on Thursday with markets poised to give back much of the previous day's gains, which were spurred by President Donald Trump’s one-month exemption for U.S. automakers on his 25% tariffs for Mexican and Canadian imports.
Futures for the S&P 500 were down 1.1% and futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 0.9% lower. Nasdaq futures slid 1.3%.
Macy's was the latest retailer to issue a weak forecast, sending its stock down in premarket even after it posted strong fourth-quarter profit that beat expectations. Its shares tumbled more than 3% before markets opened Thursday.
It was a similar story for Victoria's Secret, which beat Wall Street's fourth-quarter sales and profit forecasts but also issued tepid sales guidance for the first quarter and full year. It's shares tumbled 3.2%.
Costco and The Gap report their latest financial results after Thursday's closing bell.
Markets are also eagerly anticipating Friday's U.S. jobs report, though it's not clear whether recent federal government layoffs and downsizing will show up in the February data.
U.S. stocks rallied on Wednesday for their first daily gain of the week after Trump pulled back on some of his tariffs, raising hopes he may avoid a worst-case trade war that grinds down economies and sends inflation higher.
Trump did not roll back all of the tariffs he announced on the United States’ largest trading partners, including on China. He said in an address before Congress Tuesday night that he’s going ahead with additional tariffs on track to go into effect on April 2.
China's commerce minister said Thursday that his country will not yield to bullying and that its economy can weather higher tariffs imposed by Trump, though he added that there are “no winners in a trade war.”
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 3.3% to 24,369.71 following Chinese government reports to the annual legislative session that showed a greater resolve by Beijing to boost consumer spending and other domestic demand.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.8% to 37,704.93.
The Shanghai Composite index advanced 1.2% to 3,381.10.
South Korea’s Kospi jumped 0.7% to 2,576.16, while the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia slipped 0.6% to 8,094.70.
Taiwan’s Taiex shed 0.7%, while the SET in Bangkok skidded 1.4%.
In Europe at midday, Germany's DAX gained 0.4% as did the CAC 40 in Paris. Britain's FTSE 100 sank 1%.
——
Elaine Kurtenbach And Matt Ott, The Associated Press
