
Morning Watchlist: U.S. & China Cut Tariffs
U.S. stock futures are spiking higher ahead of the Wall Street open after China and the U.S. agreed to cut tariffs and de-escalate a trade war that had created turmoil in global markets. The countries will lower tariffs on each other’s products for 90 days, according to a joint statement released in Geneva. Under the temporary pause unveiled on Monday, the combined U.S. levies will be reduced to 30%, while the 125% Chinese duties on American goods will drop to 10%. U.S. megacap tech stocks, which had been hard hit this year, were on track to tally some of the biggest gains led by Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN). With no economic data due and little earnings, investor focus will remain on tariff headlines.
Snapshot (as of 7 AM ET)
- Oil (/CL) – Oil prices are spiking about 4% near $63 a barrel after the U.S. and China said they would ease some of their tariff measures, lifting market sentiment that the world’s two largest crude users may be moving toward resolving their trade dispute..
- Gold (/GC) – Gold prices are down 3.5% near $3225 as positive U.S.-China trade discussions alleviated market fears over tariffs, leading investors to shift from safe-haven assets towards riskier investments. The dollar is also popping which is putting pressure on gold.
- Bitcoin (/BTC) – The crypto future is up 0.5% near $104K in the premarket – highest level in over 3 months.
- VIX – The CBOE Volatility Index was down 2.6% on Friday and settled at 21.90 as stocks were relatively flat. The VIX is down over 8% this morning on stock rally and is near the 20 level.
- U.S. Dollar (/DX) – The dollar is up over 1% to 101.5.
Biggest Premarket Movers (Mark % Change as of 7 AM ET)
- Stanley Black & Decker (SWK): +11.70%
- Best Buy (BBY): +11.13%
- Microchip Technology (MCHP): +9.52%
- Newmont (NEM): -5.63%
- Abbvie (ABBV): -3.87%
- Gilead Sciences (GILD): -3.78%
Economic Data
- 10:25AM ET: Fed’s Kugler Speaks
- 11:30AM ET: 3-Month Bill Auction, 6-Month Bill Auction
- 2.00PM ET: Treasury Statement
Notable Earnings
- Premarket: BLDE, CHGG, FOXA, MNDY, NRG, PLUG, RDNT, SBH
- Postmarket: ACHR, DVA, GPRO, HTZ, RGTI, SPG, ZI
- Premarket Tomorrow: ALT, CYBR, HMC, HUYA, IGT, JD, ONON, PSFE, SE, TME, UAA, VG
- Postmarket Tomorrow: CAE, KLC, NU, OKLO
Upgrades/Downgrades
- Compass Point upgrades Coinbase (COIN) to Neutral from Sell
- Daiwa upgrades eBay (EBAY) to Buy from Neutral
- Jefferies upgrades Marriott (MAR) to Buy from Hold
- Bernstein downgrades Target (TGT) to Underperform from Market Perform
- Morgan Stanley downgrades BP (BP) to Underweight from Equal Weight
- Goldman Sachs downgrades Warner Music (WMG) to Neutral from Buy