Yesterday’s big US market rally, which saw major indices soar 2.5% to 2.7%, has extended through overnight trading and into this morning where US index futures are up 1.8% to 2.8% with the NASDAQ leading the rebound. In Europe today, the Dax is up 2.4% and the FTSE is up 1.2%. In commodity action, Crude Oil has turned downward, falling 0.6%, while Copper is up about 0.5%.
Fear has eased after President Trump backed away from his calls to fire Fed Chair Powell before his term ends next year. On this news, the US 10-year treasury note yield has dropped from 4.40% toward 4.30%, Gold has dropped 2.5% falling away from the $3,500/oz level it was approaching yesterday toward $3,350, and Bitcoin has jumped 2.2%. Combined, these moves suggest a resurgence in investor confidence, which may also be supported by comments from President Trump and Treasury Secretary Bessent related to potentially dialing down their tariff war with China in the future.
Tesla posted disappointing auto sales (down 20% from a year ago) and earnings ($0.27 vs street $0.41) numbers, but the shares are up 7.2% premarket after Elon Musk indicated that he will be spending less time on his government activities starting sometime next month. Results are due today from Boeing, Philiip Morris, IBM, and others.
Flash PMI reports coming out this morning have been disappointing for Europe and the UK suggesting a slowing economy. US flash Manufacturing PMI (street 49.4) and flash Services PMI (street 52.8) are due at 9:45 am EDT today.
*Shares of IBM and Phillip Morris are held in portfolios managed by SIA Wealth Management.