(Reuters) -Wall Street futures held steady on Friday as investors took a breather following record closes for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq in the previous session and awaited clarity on trade negotiations ahead of next week’s tariff deadline.
At 05:41 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis rose 61 points, or 0.14%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 5.75 points, or 0.09%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 1.75 points, or 0.01%.
The blue-chip Dow fell 0.7% in Thursday’s session, but remained close to its all-time high, last hit in December.
All three major indexes were on track to end the week on a positive note as recent trade deals between the United States and its trading partners including Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines helped propel markets to new highs.
An agreement with the European Union was in the pipeline, while talks with South Korea were underway as next week’s August 1 deadline for many countries looms, with investors hoping that steep U.S. import levies could be averted.
The recent climb to a series of record highs was also aided by upbeat second-quarter earnings. Of the 152 companies in the S&P 500 that reported earnings as of Thursday, 80.3% reported above analyst expectations, according to data compiled by LSEG.
However, there were a few setbacks this week from heavyweights such as Tesla, with CEO Elon Musk warning of rough quarters ahead in the wake of shrinking U.S. government subsidies for EVs.
Intel dropped 6% in premarket trading on Friday after the chipmaker forecast steeper third-quarter losses than Wall Street had estimated and announced plans to slash jobs.
Next week will feature the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting, with broader market bets pointing to a “hold” verdict by policymakers as they continue to assess the impact of tariffs on inflation.
U.S. President Donald Trump – a staunch critic of Fed Chair Jerome Powell – made a rare presidential visit to the central bank’s headquarters on Thursday, where he criticized its $2.5-billion renovation project.
This marked another escalation in Trump’s efforts to pressure Powell into cutting interest rates. The president has often mused in the past about firing the top policymaker and replacing him with someone more willing to cut borrowing costs.
According to the CME FedWatch tool, traders are pricing in a 58.6% chance of a reduction in September.
Among other stocks, Newmont added 2% after the gold miner surpassed Wall Street expectations for second-quarter profit.
Meanwhile, Paramount Global rose 2% after U.S. regulators approved its $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media.
(Reporting by Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
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