United States futures rose slightly on Tuesday night (Wednesday AEDT), extending gains from a strong post-Inauguration Day rally as investors assessed President Donald Trump’s initial trade policy statements.
By 10:15 am AEDT (11:15 pm GMT), Dow Jones Industrial Average futures remained flat, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively.
During after-hours trading, Netflix soared 14.3% as the streaming giant surpassed 300 million paid memberships.
United Airlines gained more than 3% after posting upbeat quarterly results and an optimistic outlook.
Oracle shares also gained 3% following Trump’s announcement of a joint venture, dubbed “Stargate”, involving OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank to invest at least US$500 billion in U.S. Artificial Intelligence infrastructure.
The positive sentiment follows a winning session on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied more than 500 points, or 1.2%. The S&P 500 climbed 0.9%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6%.
Investor optimism was fuelled by Trump’s tempered stance on trade policy. While the president mentioned potential tariffs of 25% on imports from Mexico and Canada and hinted at a tax on Chinese imports, he stopped short of implementing new levies.
Looking ahead, earnings season continues on Wednesday, with reports expected from Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Halliburton, and GE Vernova.
