Major United States stock futures traded within a tight range on Monday evening (Tuesday AEST) after the Labor Day public holiday.
By 9:10 am AEST (11:10 pm GMT), Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.04%, while S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were flat.
The modest moves followed Friday’s federal appeals court ruling that most of President Donald Trump’s global tariffs are illegal.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled 7-4 that only Congress has the authority to impose sweeping levies.
Trump dismissed the ruling as “Highly Partisan” on Truth Social and pledged to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Investor sentiment was also clouded by concerns over Federal Reserve independence. A court hearing last week on temporarily barring Trump from firing Fed Governor Lisa Cook ended without a ruling.
Meanwhile, Trump’s nominee Stephen Miran is set for a Senate Banking Committee hearing on 4 September.
Despite the uncertainty, Wall Street ended August on a strong note. The Dow rose more than 3% for the month, the S&P 500 gained nearly 2%, and the Nasdaq added 1.6%, marking the S&P’s fourth straight monthly advance.
The week’s key test comes Friday with the release of August’s jobs report, which could determine the Fed’s next policy move.
“We think it will take an exceptionally strong labour market report to push the Fed away from a 25bp rate cut later this month,” ANZ analysts said.
According to the CME Group FedWatch Tool, markets currently assign an 89.6% probability of a 25 basis point cut at the Fed’s upcoming meeting.
