US stock futures ticked higher on Tuesday, attempting to stabilize after Wall Street gauges kicked off the final stretch of February with steep losses led by fears of AI disruption and tariff whiplash.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) rose 0.1%. Contracts on the S&P 500 (ES=F) climbed roughly 0.2%, while Nasdaq 100 futures (NQ=F) also added 0.2%.
The cautious rebound follows a sharp sell-off on Monday as investors grappled with renewed concerns that rapid advances in artificial intelligence could disrupt broad swaths of corporate America. The blue-chip Dow (^DJI) led the slump, which pushed the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) and S&P 500 (^GSPC).
Confusion over US trade deals was also still keeping markets on edge, as President Trump’s new global tariff took effect on Tuesday at 10%. The White House is working on a formal order to raise the rate to 15%, per Bloomberg, as threatened by Trump. Spurring uncertainty, the EU warned that the levy breaches a trade deal agreed last year, while Japan called on the US to make sure it isn’t left worse off, too.
Looking ahead, investors are laser-focused on AI developments. Sector leaders Anthropic is set to host a key event Tuesday featuring product updates and demonstrations of new features. Anthropic’s release of industry-targeted AI tools has led trends of sell-offs in those industries, with Tuesday holding the potential for further pressure in cybersecurity and software firms.
On the economic front, traders will parse the latest consumer confidence data Tuesday, along with earnings from Home Depot (HD). Attention Wednesday will turn to results from Nvidia (NVDA), Salesforce (CRM), and Snowflake (SNOW).
LIVE 2 updates