(Bloomberg) — US stock futures fluctuated, with investors wary about being whiplashed from the latest tariffs headlines. The pound weakened after data showed an unexpected slowdown in UK inflation.
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S&P 500 futures were little changed after a three-day advance. Tesla Inc. and Nvidia Corp. edged lower in premarket trading. GameStop Corp. jumped 13% after saying it plans to add Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset. Dollar Tree Inc. advanced as it neared a sale of its Family Dollar business for $1 billion.
The tariffs issue remains front and center for investors, who took comfort earlier this month from the Trump administration’s signal that the coming wave of levies may be less expansive and more targeted than originally feared. However, the president has since sown confusion by saying he didn’t want too many tariff exceptions, but he would “probably be more lenient than reciprocal.”
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In another twist, US tariffs on copper could come much earlier than expected, people familiar with the matter said. All that has left investors struggling to work out how to position ahead of the April 2 deadline that Trump has dubbed “Liberation Day.”
“Uncertainty on the tariff front remains ridiculously high, leaving it incredibly tough for businesses or consumers to plan more than about a day into the future, and still making it nigh-on impossible for market participants to price risk,” said Michael Brown, a strategist at Pepperstone Group Ltd.
Read: Trump’s Trade War and the Economic Impact: Tariff Tracker
An added layer of uncertainty stems from the global economy, which many analysts fear is slowing down even as inflation remains broadly elevated. Growth concerns were fanned further on Tuesday by US data howing consumer confidence at a four-year low. A reading of durable goods orders on Wednesday came in stronger than expected, though it slipped from the previous month.
The fear of a sharp economic downturn is hampering US equities from rebounding decisively after a recent four-week selloff, with growth-linked technology names under most pressure. The S&P 500 is set for its worst first-quarter performance in three years, with record underperformance versus European stocks in dollar terms. The Stoxx 600, meanwhile, is on track for its best quarter since end-2022.
