Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., March 24, 2025.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
U.S. stock futures were little changed Tuesday after the major averages climbed on rising hopes that President Donald Trump will curtail his initial plans for broad-ranging tariffs. Investors also awaited consumer confidence figures that could sway the market later in the session.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 were flat, while Nasdaq-100 futures hovered just below the flatline. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added just 6 points.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index reading is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect a print of 93.5, down from 98.3 in February.
During Monday’s session, the 30-stock Dow jumped nearly 600 points, or about 1.4%. The broad market S&P 500 added nearly 1.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.3%.
Wall Street remains on edge over a potential uptick in inflation and slowing economic growth as it awaits reciprocal tariffs from the Trump administration on April 2. During Monday’s session, traders grew optimistic on news that the White House may narrow the scope of tariffs going into effect, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News.
Later Monday, Trump told the press that he “may give a lot of countries breaks” on reciprocal tariffs. He added that duties on certain sectors, such as pharmaceuticals and autos, would still be coming in the “near future.”
Though the major averages posted back-to-back winning sessions on Monday, the gains come after a rocky past month for stocks. At one point earlier this month, the S&P 500 closed in correction territory.
“Typically during market corrections, the stock market recovers almost as fast as it declines,” said Jim Elios, founder of Elios Financial Group. “So we believe that we are on the other side of this market correction and that stocks should continue to move higher, albeit with some volatility.”
Bank of America upgrades Alcon
Medical device and pharmaceutical company Alcon “is on the cusp of an earnings upgrade cycle driven by product launches,” according to Bank of America.
BofA upgraded Alcon stock to buy from neutral on Tuesday, and raised its price target to $108 per share from $92. The firm’s forecast implies about 17% upside from Monday’s $92.35 close.
Alcon stock in 2025.
“Meanwhile, valuation looks undemanding, with the shares trading below their long-term average,” analyst Julien Ouaddour said. “Several catalysts lie ahead, especially with product launches across the year.”
— Brian Evans
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index drops more than 2% as investors assess Trump tariff threats
Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Tuesday as investors assessed U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index ended the day 2.35% lower at 23,344.25, while the Hang Seng Tech index plunged 3.82% to 5,517.52.
Meanwhile, mainland China’s CSI 300 closed flat at 3,932.30.
India’s benchmark Nifty 50 rose 0.32% while the broader BSE Sensex traded flat as at 1.45 p.m. local time.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 ended the day 0.46% higher at 37,780.54, while the broader Topix index increased 0.24% to 2,797.52.
Over in South Korea, the Kospi index fell 0.62% to 2,615.81 while the small-cap Kosdaq declined 1.24% to 711.26.
Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 ended the day flat at 7,942.50.
— Amala Balakrishner
Retail trading platform eToro files for an initial public offering
Trading platform eToro submitted a regulatory filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering.
The company expects to list its Class A common shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker “ETOR.”
Underwriters of the IPO include Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, UBS Investment bank and Citigroup.
The company was founded in 2007, and users can trade a range of asset classes, including stocks, exchange-traded funds and options.
—Darla Mercado
El-Erian says fast money’s de-leveraging is behind us
Mohamed El-Erian, Allianz chief economic advisor, said part of the driver for the recent market sell-off could be behind us.
“You’ve seen quite a de-leveraging among fast money. And you’ve also seen a shift of institutional to Europe. I think most of the de-leveraging is behind us. The shift to Europe isn’t quite behind us, but the technical certainly are not as bad as they were a few weeks ago,” El-Erian said on Monday.
The widely followed strategist and economist said there will be one rate cut this year at best as inflation proves to be stubborn.
“I wouldn’t surprise me if we get no cuts this year unless we go into recession,” he said. Recent data are “all consistently pointing to inflation going up. So I think the Fed should take it more seriously.”
— Yun Li
Stocks making the biggest moves after hours Monday
Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading.
KB Home — The homebuilder tumbled nearly 9% after missing both top-and bottom-line estimates in the first quarter. KB Home posted earnings of $1.49 per share on revenues of $1.39 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG were looking for earnings of $1.58 per share and $1.5 billion in revenues. The company also cut its revenue guidance for the 2025 fiscal year.
UniFirst – Shares of the workwear provider dipped 10%. Competitor Cintas terminated talks to take over UniFirst in a deal valued at $275 per share in cash. “While we continue to believe in the merits of a transaction, we were unable to have substantive engagement with UniFirst regarding key transaction terms,” Cintas CEO Todd Schneider said in a statement. “We do not believe further discussions are warranted at this time.”
American Electric Power — The Columbus, Ohio-based utility dropped 2% after planning a $2 billion secondary sale of common stock through Citigroup and Barclays.
— Hakyung Kim