US Stock Market Live: Dow futures reverse losses, surge 150 points; Trump says major trade deal today

Here’s what the US President wrote on Truth Social with regards to a major announcement:

Big News Conference tomorrow morning at 10:00 A.M., The Oval Office, concerning a MAJOR TRADE DEAL WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF A BIG, AND HIGHLY RESPECTED, COUNTRY. THE FIRST OF MANY!!!

Asian stocks traded in a tight range at the open after the Federal Reserve reiterated it isn’t in a rush to lower interest rates, and investors awaited the trade negotiations between China and the US before taking risky bets.

A regional gauge fell 0.4% and equity-index futures for the US were flat in early Asian trading. Chipmakers led the charge in the US session as Bloomberg News reported that the Trump administration planned to rescind Biden-era curbs for AI-related exports. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index dropped the most in almost three weeks Wednesday.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 opened 0.28% higher, while the Topix was flat. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.36% while the Kosdaq advanced 0.61%. Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.14%.

Powell has been on the receiving end of severe criticism from Trump for not cutting rates. In his back-and-forth with reporters, the Fed chair emphasized the White House was in a better position to resolve the mounting risks and uncertainty, and indeed appeared to be moving in that direction.

“Ultimately this is for the administration to do. This is their mandate, not ours,” Powell said. “It seems we’re entering a new phase where the administration is beginning talks with a number of our important trading partners and that has the potential to change the picture materially.”

The Federal Reserve kept interest rates at the target range of 4.25% to 4.5% at the conclusion of its May meeting. The policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee noted that “the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.”

The central bank is walking a fine line: It’s facing uncertainty around President Donald Trump’s tariffs and economy that shows some signs of resilience – take April’s payrolls – as well as weakness – like the latest gross domestic product report.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell knocked down any notion of taking preemptive rate cuts as inflation is still running above target. “It’s not a situation where we can be preemptive, because we actually don’t know what the right responses to the data will be until we see more data,” Powell said.

Futures on Wall Street erased early losses and are now trading around the flat line after the US Federal Reserve, on expected lines, left interest rates unchanged overnight.

The Dow futures are 20 points lower, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures are at the flat line.

Good Morning!

We are back to bring you all the Live action from the global markets and the US.

On expected lines, the Fed left interest rates unchanged. Lots of overnight developments to track and we’ll update you with all of them.