Stock futures fell to start the week as investors hoping for news of trade deals instead had to grapple with another set of tariffs after President Donald Trump announced surprise levies on movies made outside the U.S. Futures tied to the S&P 500 fell around 0.8%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures shed 266 points, or 0.6%, and Nasdaq-100 futures lost 0.9%. Trump on Sunday said he authorized relevant government agencies to begin imposing a 100% tariff on films produced abroad, calling efforts from other nations to attract film productions a “national security threat.” It remains unclear if the levies would impact movies shown in theaters or movies on streaming services. Shares of Walt Disney and Netflix — all companies that film abroad — traded 2.5% and 5% lower in early morning trading, respectively. Warner Bros Discovery also shed nearly 4%. Trump also told reporters on Sunday that “we’re negotiating with many countries, but at the end of this, I’ll set my own deals — because I set the deal, they don’t set the deal.” Trump added that has no plans to talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping, dashing investors’ hopes that progress is being made to ease U.S.-China trade tensions. “I am worried, I was hoping trade deals would be announced by now. They’re not. I don’t think the impact has hit us yet,” said Jeremy Siegel, finance professor at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and Wisdom Tree chief economist. Wall Street is also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting beginning on Tuesday, with a rate decision expected Wednesday. Fed funds futures trading points to just a 3.2% chance of a rate cut, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool. Still, traders are keeping a close eye on any commentary from the central bank or Fed Chair Jerome Powell on the outlook for the economy amid heightened uncertainty stemming from the trade war. Last week, sentiment ran higher on hopes for a U.S. trade deal with major trading partners. The S&P 500 advanced nearly 1.5% on Friday, its ninth straight day of gains — its longest winning run since November 2004 — and managed to recover all losses incurred since April 2, when Trump announced sweeping retaliatory tariffs on goods from many countries. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 1.5% Friday, while the Dow industrials rose nearly 1.4%. U.S. Treasury yields were mixed on Monday as investor attention turned to the Federal Reserve meeting and interest rate decision slated for later in the week. At 6:27 a.m. ET, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was down by less than one basis point at 4.316%. The 2-year Treasury yield was last more than 3 basis points lower at 3.805%. Asia-Pacific currencies appreciated Monday, led by the Taiwanese dollar, as the U.S. dollar weakened. Taiwan’s currency continued to strengthen, appreciating 5.77% against the greenback to 3-year highs of 28.93. In stocks, the Australian market fell after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese returned to power, while most Asian markets were closed for holidays. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 ended the day 0.97% lower at 8,157.80. This is a reversal from the sharp gains in its previous session, when the index hit its highest level since Feb. 27. Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex plunged 1.23% in choppy trade to close at 20,532.99. In India, the benchmark Nifty 50 added 0.47% to close at 24,461.15 while the BSE Sensex advanced 0.37% to 80,796.84. Japanese, South Korean, Hong Kong and mainland China markets were closed for public holidays. U.S. crude oil futures fell more than 1% on Monday, after OPEC+ agreed to surge production for a second month. U.S. crude was down 70 cents, or 1.2%, at $57.59 a barrel. Global benchmark Brent fell 69 cents, or 1.1%, to $60.60 per barrel. Oil prices have fallen more than 20% this year. The eight producers in the group, led by Saudi Arabia, agreed on Saturday to increase output by another 411,000 barrels per day in June. The decision comes a month after OPEC+ surprised the market by agreeing to surge production in May by the same amount. The June production hike is nearly triple the 140,000 bpd that Goldman Sachs had originally forecast. OPEC+ is bringing more than 800,000 bpd of additional supply to the market over the course of two months. Oil prices in April posted the biggest monthly loss since 2021, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs have raised fears of a recession that will slow demand at the same time that OPEC+ is quickly increasing supply. Gold prices rose more than 1% on Monday, helped by a weaker dollar, with investors looking forward to more details on the U.S.-China trade negotiations and the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting later this week. Spot gold rose 1.8% to $3,298.09 an ounce after posting its worst week since February last week. U.S. gold futures climbed almost 2% to $3,306.50. The dollar index was down 0.3% against its rivals, making gold more attractive for other currency holders.
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