Stock Market Today: Stocks slip from record high, dollar slides on tariff talk

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U.S. equity futures edged lower in early Friday trading, while the dollar fell to a one-month low against its global peers while Treasury yields steadied, as markets digested a series of comments from President Donald Trump that appeared to reflect a softening on his views on universal tariffs.

Stocks closed at a fresh all-time high on Thursday, with the S&P 500 rising 0.73% with gains for all of the benchmark’s eleven separate sectors following Trump’s address to the World Economic Forum in Davos during which he reiterated his ‘America first’ economic policies.

The President also said he would call on leaders of the OPEC cartel to lower global oil prices, although he offered little detail in terms of how he might achieve that, while making similarly vague claims of “demanding” lower interest rates from the Federal Reserve.

His remarks in an interview later with Fox News, however, had more impact as he said he would “rather not” impose tariffs on China-made goods and allowed for the possibility of a trade deal following a “friendly’ conversation with President Xi Jinping.

Global stocks were buoyed by the remarks, with the regional MSCI ex-Japan index rising 0.79% into the close of trading and Europe’s Stoxx 600 extending its recent record high and on pace for a fifth consecutive weekly gain. 

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, fell 0.5% to a one-month low of 107.528 as investors looked to riskier assets amid the broader improvement in sentiment.

That’s yet to fully materialize in U.S. stocks, however, as futures suggest a modestly lower open on Wall Street at the start of trading, with the S&P 500 called 9 points lower and the Dow Jones Industrial Average priced for a 50 point pullback from last night’s close.

The tech-focused Nasdaq is called 45 points lower with Nvidia  (NVDA)  down 0.21% but most of the larger megacap tech names edging modestly higher. 

Related: Goldman Sachs analyst tweaks Apple stock price target ahead of Q1 earnings

Boeing  (BA)  shares were active in early trading, falling 1.7% after the planemaker pre-announced its fourth quarter earnings and forecast a lager-than-expected loss of $5.46 per share tied to costs from its crippling machinists’ strike. That will likely lead to a sixth consecutive year of losses that will combine to around $36 billion.

Novo Nordisk shares, meanwhile, were up 10.6% after the Denmark-based drugmaker posted early-stage results from the trial of its amycretin obesity treatment that showed a 22% weight loss for patients over a 9 month period. 

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In the bond market, benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields were little-changed at 4.634% while 2-year notes were trading at 4.268% heading into the start of the New York session.

Global oil prices, however, edged higher as the dollar extended its declines, with Brent crude contracts for March delivery rising 47 cents to $78.77 per barrel and WTI contracts for the same month up 42 cents to $75.04 per barrel.

Elsewhere, the Bank of Japan lifted its benchmark lending rate to 0.5%, the highest levels since 2008, following a two-day policy meeting in Tokyo, but made no changes to its near-term guidance. 

 “We don’t have any preset idea. We’ll make a decision at each policy meeting by looking at economic and price developments as well as risks,” said Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda.

The yen rose by around 0.75% to 155.91 against the U.S. dollar following the decision, while stocks on the Nikkei 225 ended the session 0.07% lower.

Related: Veteran fund manager issues dire S&P 500 warning for 2025

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