Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on April 29, 2025 in New York City.
Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images
Stock futures tied to the S&P 500 were lower Tuesday evening as traders prepared for a blast of economic data to wrap up a tumultuous month of trading.
S&P 500 futures slipped 0.2%, while Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.4%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 6 points, or 0.01%.
The major averages ended Tuesday higher after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC that the White House was close to announcing a trade deal, but didn’t name the country. Later in the afternoon, President Donald Trump said that tariff negotiations with India are “coming along great” and that the U.S. could soon strike an agreement with the nation.
In the previous session, the 30-stock Dow climbed 300 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.58%. It was the sixth straight winning day for both indexes, the longest since July for the Dow and since November for the S&P 500. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.55%.
April has been a rocky month for markets. Trump’s sweeping “reciprocal” tariff announcement on April 2 set off a bout of volatile trading, but the major averages have been gradually narrowing the month’s losses. Consider that the S&P 500 briefly entered a bear market on April 7 but has since made a comeback, and is down 0.9% this month. The Dow is on pace for a 3.5% loss in April, while the Nasdaq is about 0.9% higher.
“U.S. equities have picked up the pace as April 30 rapidly approaches, aiming for the monthly flatline and recouping losses following President Donald Trump’s tariff barrage,” said Jeff Buchbinder, LPL Financial chief equity strategist.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted on Tuesday that “individual investors have held tight, while institutional investors have panicked” in the recent market turmoil. These mom-and-pop investors have been buyers of this month’s sell-off.
A raft of economic reports that could dictate the markets’ next move awaits on Wednesday, with the personal consumption expenditures price index for March due in the morning, as well as the first reading of the first quarter’s gross domestic product.
Those reports arrive at a time when the consumer is showing signs of weakness. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index slid to 86 in April, down 7.9 points from the prior reading and making for the weakest result in nearly five years.
Investors will also be watching for key earnings reports from Meta Platforms and Microsoft, due in the afternoon.
