Stock market today: Markets bounce after Trump says he won’t try to fire Fed Chair Powell

By YURI KAGEYAMA and MATT OTT Associated Press Business Writers U S markets are poised to open with big gains a clear sign of relief after President Donald Trump revealed he would not attempt to fire the head of the Federal Reserve Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped before the bell Wednesday while S P futures rose Nasdaq futures climbed a full Related Articles Harvey Weinstein s rape retrial is set for opening statements at a different MeToo moment Orders to leave the country a few for US citizen sow confusion among immigrants Lori Vallow Daybell convicted in Arizona of conspiring to kill her estranged husband in FAA finds safety concerns at Las Vegas airport in review spurred by midair collision in Washington South Dakota panel rejects permit for an billion carbon capture Midwest pipeline Trump upset that the Federal Reserve was not cutting interest rates promptly explained that he could fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell But Trump explained reporters Tuesday I have no intention of firing him Trump wants Powell and the Fed to resume cutting its benchmark borrowing rate to help boost the economic activity Powell and other Fed official have reported they plan to remain cautious with interest rates amid the economic uncertainty caused by Trump s tariffs and inflation that remains above the Fed s target The majority legal scholars agree that Trump can t fire Powell from the Fed s board of governors and there is no legal precedent for doing so However there is less agreement over whether a president can remove him as chair Markets are also reacting to comments Tuesday from U S Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent He declared the ongoing tariffs showdown with China is unsustainable and he expects a de-escalation in the arrangement war Of lesson markets will continue to listen out for the latest White House rhetoric on tariffs and any hints of upcoming agreement deals As such territory direction will more likely than not continue to be dictated by Trump s latest whims regarding tariffs and exchange noted Tim Waterer chief field analyst at KCM Contract The only prediction a large number of Wall Street strategists are willing to make is that financial markets will likely continue to gyrate along with hopes that Trump may negotiate deals with other countries to lower his tariffs If no such deals come promptly enough multiple investors expect the financial system to fall into a recession Among stocks seeing a big rebound is Tesla after Elon Musk that he will spend less time in Washington and more time running his electric motorcycle company The promise follows the company s quarterly financial record late Tuesday and a massive tail off in profit Tesla has been racked by vandalism of its cars on the street it s dealerships widespread protests and calls for a consumer boycott all a backlash to Musk s oversight of cost-cutting efforts for the U S cabinet Musk s promise to distance himself from the Trump administration overshadowed fading profits at Tesla which tumbled from billion to million in the first quarter Tesla shares rose before the opening bell Wednesday Big machinery stocks also gained early Wednesday with Nvidia leading the way The chipmaker s shares have swung wildly with the latest domain undulations and were up before the bell Apple rose and Meta gained after the European Union fined the companies million euros and million euros respectively for breaching its digital competition rules In Europe at midday France s CAC jumped while Germany s DAX rose Britain s FTSE gained In Asia Japan s benchmark Nikkei gained to finish at Australia s S P ASX surged to South Korea s Kospi gained to Hong Kong s Hang Seng added to while the Shanghai Composite edged down to In capacity trading benchmark U S crude added cents to a barrel but is still on track for its worst month since October That s been good for consumers with the average price for a gallon of gas in the U S Wednesday coming in at nearly lower than last year at this point Brent crude the international standard added cents to a barrel The U S dollar declined to Japanese yen from yen The euro cost up from