Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., July 25, 2025.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
U.S. equity futures rose on Sunday evening as Wall Street prepared for an especially busy week that’ll bring earnings from several major tech companies, a key Federal Reserve meeting, President Donald Trump’s Aug. 1 tariff deadline and key inflation data.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 180 points, or 0.4%. S&P 500 futures were also higher by 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.4%.
The move comes after Trump announced Sunday that the U.S. has reached an agreement with the European Union to lower tariffs to 15%. The president had previously threatened 30% tariffs on most imported goods from the U.S.’s largest trading partner.
Wall Street is also coming off a winning week fueled by strong earnings and recent deals between the U.S. and other trading partners, including Japan and Indonesia.
On Friday, all three of the major averages finished the day and week with gains. The blue-chip Dow climbed 208.01 points, or 0.47%, to settle at 44,901.92. The broad market S&P 500 gained 0.40% to close at 6,388.64, marking its fifth consecutive day of closing records and 14th record close of the year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.24% to 21,108.32 for its 15th record close of the year.
“A healthy plethora of earnings beats, positive developments in U.S.-Japan trade relations, strong capex commentary, and a bullish “AI Action Plan” kept the enthusiasm of weeks’ past stronger than ever,” Nick Savone of Morgan Stanley’s Institutional Equity Division said in a note over the weekend.
“As we push through the bulk of S&P 500 companies still due to report, the lower bar heading into this season has admittedly kept spirits high, but stock reactions still look most principally rooted in forward guidance — especially as investors brace, time and again, for the impact of these trade headlines to flow through.”
The market is gearing up for the busiest week of earnings season. More than 150 companies in the S&P 500 are due to post their quarterly results, including “Magnificent Seven” names Meta Platforms and Microsoft on Wednesday, followed by Amazon and Apple on Thursday. Investors will be listening for companies’ comments on AI spending for direction on whether big investments in hyperscalers this year are justified.
This week, the Fed will also hold its two-day policy meeting, concluding on Wednesday. Although the central bank is expected to keep interest rates at their current target range of 4.25% to 4.5%, investors will be looking for clues about whether a rate cut could be on the table at the September meeting.
Tariffs and their effect on inflation will remain in focus on Thursday as traders get the June personal consumption expenditures price (PCE) index, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation. The report is expected to show inflation rising to 2.4% from 2.3% year-over-year, according to FactSet, and to 0.31% from 0.14% on a monthly basis.
Investors will also get a batch of jobs-related data this week, including the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, on Tuesday, ADP’s private payrolls report on Wednesday, initial jobless claims Thursday and, on Friday, the critical July jobs report. Economists polled by FactSet anticipate the U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs in July, down from 147,000 in June. The unemployment rate is expected to show a slight bump to 4.2% from 4.1%.
