US futures more tentative in the early stages as tech shares hold their nerve

All in all, it looks like Trump’s tariffs may not be as harsh as feared. Or at least there is some wiggle room to that. And it helped to lift up the market mood a little towards the end. In case you missed it:

• White House says one-month exemption for any autos in the USMCA
• Trump posts about Canada, says call with Trudeau ended in ‘somewhat’ friendly matter
• Canada’s Freeland: ‘Things are very, very fluid’ with US on tariffs
• Trump is considering agricultural ‘carve outs’ re Mexico and Canada tariffs

There will no exemptions, he said. There will be no exceptions, he said. Sure.

US futures are looking more tentative so far but it is still early in the day. S&P 500 futures are down 0.1% with Nasdaq futures down 0.2%. This particular news from China might be something to be wary about though. But from a technical perspective, tech shares have held their nerve in trading this week – at least for now:

The Nasdaq was on the verge of a material technical breakdown before dip buyers managed to hold the line.

We’re seeing price action move back up above the 200-day moving average (blue line) and that’s somewhat encouraging. We’ve not had many episodes like this over the past year or so but as seen in the last two times it happened on the chart, dip buyers managed to keep the rally going.

So, can they do that once again this time around? For today, more Trump headlines will be a key factor in impacting trading sentiment. But there will also be the US weekly initial jobless claims to watch out for. In wrapping up the week, all eyes will be on the non-farm payrolls data tomorrow though.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.