U.S. Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures slip in early morning trade. Key factors to watch out on Wednesday

U.S Stock market on Wednesday is set to low opening as futures for key indexes were down in the pre-market trading. Dow futures fell 0.21 per cent, S&P 500 e-mini futures slipped 0.16 per cent, and Nasdaq 100 futures slid 0.17 per cent. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell 0.2 per cent from its all-time high set the day before, following mixed earnings reports from some U.S. companies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.8 per cent from its own record, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1 per cent.

Trump announced he would impose a 25 per cent tax on imports to the United States from countries that do business with Iran as the death toll from the latest protests there exceeded 2,500 as of Wednesday, according to activists.

U.S. companies are under pressure to deliver strong growth in profits to justify the runs to records their stock prices have made. Analysts expect companies in the S&P 500 index will deliver earnings per share for the final three months of 2025 that are 8.3 per cent higher than a year earlier, according to FactSet.


JPMorgan Chase helped kick off the latest reporting season by delivering weaker profit and revenue than analysts expected. Its stock fell 4.2 per cent and was one of the heaviest weights on the market.

The shortfall may have been because some analysts hadn’t updated their estimates to account for an earnings hit resulting from the bank’s purchase of the Apple Card credit card portfolio. CEO Jamie Dimon sounded relatively optimistic about the U.S. economy, saying “consumers continue to spend, and businesses generally remain healthy.”

Moderna jumped 17.1 per cent for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after saying it expects to report revenue for 2025 that’s above the midpoint of the range it had forecast in November. It also offered updates on several products, including a seasonal flu vaccine that could see potential approvals beginning later this year.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased after a highly anticipated update on inflation came in close to economists’ expectations. The data strengthened expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate at least twice in 2026 to shore up the job market.

Lower interest rates could make borrowing cheaper for U.S. households and boost prices for investments, but they could also worsen inflation. Tuesday’s report showed that U.S. consumers paid prices last month for gasoline, food and other costs of living that were 2.7 per cent higher overall than a year earlier. That’s a touch worse than economists expected and above the Fed’s 2 per cent target for inflation.

The data helped the 10-year Treasury ease to 4.17 per cent from 4.19 per cent late Monday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Fed will do, inched down to 3.52 per cent from 3.54 per cent.

In other dealings early Wednesday, benchmark U.S. crude gave up 28 cents to $60.87 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 25 cents to $65.22 a barrel.

The U.S. dollar inched up to 159.17 yen from 159.13 yen. The euro rose to $1.1651 from $1.1647.