U.S. stock futures were little changed early Wednesday after the S&P 500 posted a marginal gain, marking its third positive session in a row. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added just 7 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures each slipped about 0.1%. Investors are watching for all possible signs that could indicate a rise in inflation and a recession, particularly as President Donald Trump’s April 2 start date for reciprocal tariffs looms. Trump said in an interview with Newsmax on Tuesday said that tariffs will likely be more “lenient than reciprocal.” That softened stance adds onto reports from earlier this week that the duties could be more narrow in scope and that sector-specific tariffs are expected to be delayed. Stocks closed slightly higher on Tuesday after sentiment appeared uplifted from these tariff reports, overshadowing the release of March consumer confidence data that indicated U.S. consumers’ future outlook on income, business and job prospects dropped to their lowest reading in 12 years. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that a recession is on the horizon, according to Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group. “The soft data looks terrible. If you look at the soft data, you’d say we’re in a recession right now — especially after today’s consumer confidence report — but it’s a matter of actions speaking louder than words. When you look at the hard data, we’re not seeing nearly the collapse that we’re seeing in the soft data,” he told CNBC on Tuesday. “Over the last week, you’ve seen housing starts, building permits, industrial production, capacity utilization, new home sales today were all either in line with or better than expected,” Hickey added. “So that suggests that, at this point, we haven’t seen that transfer from not feeling good to actually not being good.” U.S. Treasury yields moved higher Wednesday as investors awaited further economic data amid growing fears of a recession. At 6:47 a.m. ET, the benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield rose more than 2 basis points to 4.336%. The 2-year Treasury yield also added 2.6 basis points to 4.01%. Asia-Pacific markets traded higher Wednesday, tracking Wall Street gains on expectations that U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs could be softer than expected earlier. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.71% to close at 7,999. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.65% to close at 38,027.29 while the Topix added 0.55% to close at 2,812.89. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1.08% to end the trading day at 2,643.94 while the small-cap Kosdaq traded 0.73% higher to close at 716.48.
Thailand’s SET Index rose 0.62% after Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra survived a no-confidence vote earlier in the day. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.60% to close at 23,483.32 while mainland China’s CSI 300 slipped 0.33% to close at 3,919.36. The Hang Seng Tech index, which tracks the 30 largest technology companies listed in Hong Kong is 0.61% higher as it dances around the brink of correction. Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday as concerns about tighter global supply grew following the U.S. threat of tariffs on nations buying Venezuelan crude, along with a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. crude inventories. Brent crude futures gained 49 cents, or 0.67%, to $73.51 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 48 cents, or 0.70%, to $69.48 a barrel. Both contracts hit their highest in three weeks in the previous session. Gold prices rose for a second straight session on Wednesday, buoyed by safe-haven demand as markets awaited further clarity on U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies. Spot gold was up 0.1% at $3,023.63 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures also rose 0.1% to $3,029.10. “It is the safe-haven function of gold which is providing support (to prices), and one of the reasons driving that is the U.S. tariffs policy,” Quantitative Commodity Research analyst Peter Fertig said.