Wall Street futures slipped up to 2 percent on Thursday amid growing concerns over the US-China trade war, giving up some gains from the previous session's sharp rally that was fuelled by US President Donald Trump’s 90-day tariff relief.
At around 4 PM IST, Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 1.7 percent to 18,820.1, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures declined 1 percent to 40,203. S&P 500 futures were down 1.46 percent at 5,377.30, signalling a weak start for US equities when markets open later at 7 PM IST.
The decline comes a day after Wall Street witnessed a broad-based rally on Trump's pause on reciprocal tariffs. In the US, the S&P 500 had surged 9.52 percent on Wednesday in its best single-day performance since 2008. The tech-heavy Nasdaq soared 12.16 percent, marking its second-largest one-day gain ever, while the Dow Jones jumped 7.87 percent to close above the 40,600 mark.
The traders remained cautious on spiraling US-China trade war after Trump clarified that while most nations will get a 90-day break from the newly proposed reciprocal tariffs, China will face additional duties. The US hiked tariffs on Chinese imports to 125 percent after Beijing imposed retaliatory tariffs of 84per cent.
EU puts counter tariffs against US on hold for 90 days as Trump announces pause
The escalating trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies dampened investor sentiment globally.
Meanwhile, the US dollar weakened on Thursday as it slipped 0.66 percent against the Japanese yen to 146.70 and dropped 0.5 percent against the Swiss franc to 0.8539.
Meanwhile, in Europe, major indices extended gains following the tariff pause. The pan-European STOXX 600 climbed 5.27 percent, while Germany’s DAX advanced 5.76 percent. The UK’s FTSE 100 rose over 4 percent and France’s CAC 40 gained 5.21 percent.
Asian markets too ended with strong gains. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied up to 9 percent during the session to 34,609, and the broader Topix index jumped 8 per cent. Benchmarks in Hong Kong, South Korea and China closed in the green.
Back home, domestic equity markets were shut on Thursday on account of Mahavir Jayanti. However, Gift Nifty Futures mirrored global sentiment and surged 3.3 percent or nearly 800 points to 23,247 from Wednesday's close of 22,487.
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