Market Movements: Trump, Amazon, and the Gold Situation

American stock futures are calm ahead of important corporate earnings reports and central bank interest rate decisions. President Donald Trump is in Japan, the last stop of his Asian tour, discussing trade agreements. During this visit, Amazon is planning substantial layoffs while UnitedHealth is set to announce its quarterly results.

U.S. stock futures remained flat on Tuesday as investors monitored anticipated corporate earnings reports and potential trade agreements between the U.S. and China. As of 03:50 ET on Tuesday, Dow Jones and Nasdaq 100 futures showed no change, while the S&P 500 declined by 4 points, or 0.1%. The previous day, major indexes on Wall Street achieved their second consecutive all-time high close amid expectations that a meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping would ease trade tensions.

In markets awaiting a trade agreement, the VIX index fell to its lowest level in about a month. Among individual stocks, Qualcomm shares rose by 11% after the chipmaker announced it would produce two artificial intelligence processors for data centers.

Before the planned meeting with Xi Jinping, President Trump conducted a swift tour of Asian countries. On Tuesday, Trump met with Sanae Takaichi in Japan, where they signed a framework agreement regarding the supply of rare earth elements, aimed at reducing international China dependency. However, the name China did not come up explicitly during the meetings.

Details about the $550 billion investment that Japan has committed to the United States were also limited. As part of a previous trade package, Japan was expected to invest in shipbuilding and purchase black beans, gas, and pick-up trucks from the U.S.

The focus is now on UnitedHealth’s earnings report. The health insurance giant is eagerly anticipated to share changes in the company’s strategy under new CEO Stephen Hemsley. UnitedHealth is facing challenges in managing rising healthcare costs. The management has faced significant criticism for strategies that increase the requirement for patients to obtain pre-approval for necessary treatments.

After Wall Street's close, earnings figures will be reported by companies such as credit card company Visa and online travel agency Booking Holdings. Throughout the week, results from major technology firms, including Google owner Alphabet, Meta Platforms (the parent company of Facebook), and e-commerce giant Amazon are also among the eagerly awaited data.

Amazon has garnered attention with plans to lay off up to 30,000 employees. Reports suggest this is seen as an effort to correct overstaffing provided during the pandemic, indicating a restructuring attempt by management. Most reported layoffs may impact different divisions such as Amazon Web Services.

Finally, gold prices have declined. Prices fell below $4,000, as reduced U.S.-China trade tensions decreased the search for safe havens. Gold fell to $3,915.67, down nearly 10% from the $4,381.29 it reached the previous week. The week's most significant event is the two-day meeting where a 25 basis point interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve is expected.