Trump announces trade deal with EU following months of negotiations
Investing.com - U.S. stock futures edge lower after equities on Wall Street posted gains in the previous session. The White House reportedly wants countries to provide their best offers for trade negotiations by Wednesday, Reuters reported, as U.S. officials step up efforts to secure deals with individual nations before the end of 90-day pause to punishing reciprocal tariffs. Job openings figures are set to provide a glimpse into the labor market ahead of a crucial nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s (TW:2330) CEO speaks out on the impact of Trump’s levies.
1. Futures inch lower
U.S. stock futures pointed lower on Tuesday, with investors eyeing global trade tensions and key upcoming U.S. employment figures later this week.
By 03:31 ET (07:31 GMT), the Dow futures contract had slid by 204 points, or 0.5%, S&P 500 futures had fallen by 28 points, or 0.5%, and Nasdaq 100 futures had dropped by 99 points, or 0.5%.
The main indices ended higher on Monday, although risk appetite was somewhat dented by worries over renewed trade strife between the U.S. and China. U.S. President Donald Trump has accused China of breaching a detente over levies on critical minerals -- a claim that Beijing refuted.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that Trump would speak with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping soon as part of a bid to smooth over the matter.
Meanwhile, traders will be keen to see if Trump adopts a more hawkish stance on trade in response to an emerging narrative that he ultimately backs down from his more strident tariff threats, analysts at Vital Knowledge said.
Fueled by the concerns over a refueled trade spat, the U.S. dollar softened, Treasury yields -- which tend to move inversely to prices -- ticked up, and gold, traditionally considered to be a safe-haven asset, touched a three-week high.
2. White House wants tariff offers by Wednesday - Reuters
The Trump administration is urging countries to provide their best offers for trade negotiations by Wednesday, according to Reuters.
With a self-imposed 90-day pause to Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs on a host of nations due to expire in July, the White House is racing to secure a bevy of bespoke agreements. Trump officials have previously said they are aiming to secure dozens of individual deals during the delay, which itself was partly fueled by financial markets largely rejecting the massive spike in duties first unveiled at a so-called "Liberation Day" event in early April.
Economic adviser Kevin Hassett and other officials have suggested that several agreements are close to being secured, although so far the only major deal announced has been with Britain.
An official with the United States Trade Representative noted that trade talks are ongoing, Reuters said, white Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender told CNBC that negotiations are making "very good progress".
Citing a draft letter to negotiating partners from the USTR, Reuters reported that the U.S. is now asking countries to lay out their best proposals regarding a range of key areas, including plans to remove non-tariff barriers as well as tariff and quota offers for the purchase of U.S. industrial and agricultural products. Commitments on digital trade and economic security, and other country-specific agreements, have also been requested, Reuters said.
3. JOLTS data ahead
Highlighting the economic calendar will be the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, which could give markets further insight into how Trump’s tariff policies may be impacting the overall labor market.
Economists expect job openings, a proxy for labor demand, to have edged down slightly to 7.110 million in April. The reading stood at 7.192 million in March.
Elsewhere, auto sales data for May is also due out. Analysts flagged that the number has been bolstered in recent months by car buyers snapping up vehicles prior to the implementation of Trump’s tariffs. Investors will be curious to see if this demand has weakened.
The overall economy has shown signs of broad resilience in the face of the tariff turmoil. Still, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said that it had trimmed its outlook for U.S. growth to 1.6% this year, down from a prior projection of 2.2%.
U.S. tariffs were also tipped to weigh on growth in China, the world’s second-largest economy, but be offset by government subsidies related to consumer goods, the OECD said. Chinese factory activity shrank for the first time in eight months in May, a private-sector survey found on Tuesday.
4. TSMC CEO on tariffs
TSMC CEO C.C. Wei said that U.S. trade tariffs were having some impact on the chipmaker, but that outsized artificial intelligence demand was likely to counterbalance trade headwinds.
Speaking at the company’s annual shareholders meeting, Wei said that TSMC had not seen any changes in customer trends due to heightened tariff uncertainty, and that the situation was likely to become clearer in the coming months.
“Tariffs do have some impact on TSMC, but not directly. That’s because tariffs are imposed on importers, not exporters. TSMC is an exporter,” Wei said.
“However, tariffs can lead to slightly higher prices, and when prices go up, demand may go down [...] But I can assure you that AI demand has always been very strong and it’s consistently outpacing supply."
Wei’s comments come after the world’s biggest chipmaker clocked strong first-quarter earnings in April, and unveiled a positive outlook for the coming years.
5. Oil ticks higher
Oil prices edged higher Tuesday, extending the prior session’s sharp gains as uncertainty over a U.S.-Iran nuclear deal and worsening tensions between Ukraine and Russia heralded more potential supply disruptions.
At 03:31 ET, Brent futures climbed 0.8% to $65.13 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.9% to $63.09 a barrel.
Iran is expected to reject a U.S. proposal to end a decades-old nuclear dispute, meaning continued sanctions, which would limit Iranian supply and be supportive of oil prices.
Both contracts gained nearly 3% in the previous session after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, agreed to keep output increases in July at 411,000 barrels per day, which was less than some in the market had feared and the same hike as the previous two months.