Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Inch Higher as Trump Extends Deadline on Tariffs

Stock futures moved slightly higher Tuesday morning as the market looks to rebound from a downturn to start the week that was fueled by fresh uncertainty about tariffs. 

Futures tied to the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were recently up 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 0.1%. Stocks slid on Monday, pulling the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite off record-high levels, after President Donald Trump announced new tariff rates on several countries, including Japan and South Korea, that would take effect at the start of August if those nations don’t reduce trade barriers.

Coming into the week, investors were anxiously awaiting the Wednesday deadline for Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs to go back into effect, amid concerns that hefty tariffs could spur inflation, slow economic growth and dent corporate profits. In an executive order signed late Monday, the president extended that deadline to August 1 to give the U.S. and leading trading partners more time to negotiate. News of the extension mitigates concerns about the immediate impact of a big increase in tariffs but extends for several weeks the uncertainty about where trade policy will land.

Shares of the world’s largest technology companies were higher across the board in premarket trading, though the gains were modest. Tesla (TSLA) shares were up about 1%, recovering from a sell-off on Monday sparked by news that CEO Elon Musk has launched a new political party. Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG), Meta Platforms (META) and Broadcom (AVGO) all rose less than 1%.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, notably mortgages, was at 4.43% this morning, up from 4.40% late Monday and at its highest level in three weeks. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the performance of the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, rose 0.1% to 97.54, posting slight gains for the second straight day after hitting its lowest level since early 2022 last week.

Bitcoin was at $108,900 recently, up from an overnight low of $107,500. The digital currency isn’t far from its all-time high of around $112,000 set in late May.

Gold futures were down 0.2% at $3,335 an ounce, while West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, were holding steady at $67.90 per barrel.