Dow Futures Surge As Trump Takes A Step Back From Powell Criticism: Tesla, Intel Among Stocks In Focus

U.S. stocks were set for a positive opening on Wednesday after President Donald Trump took a step back from his public criticism of U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

In a recent press briefing, President Trump said that he has “no intention of firing” Powell, but emphasized that he wants the Fed chair to be a “little more active” in pursuing the idea of an interest rate cut.

Powell had previously expressed concerns that Trump’s tariffs were larger than expected and could stress the U.S. economy’s growth prospects. This invited public criticism from President Trump, leading to a decline in U.S. equities in the days that followed.

While the Dow Jones-linked futures were up by 1.9% at the time of writing, the S&P 500 futures surged 2.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures gained the most, rising 2.9%, while Russell 2000 futures were up 2.5%.

Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) was up 2.2%, while and Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) gained 2.7% in Wednesday’s pre-market session.

Gold prices in the spot market edged lower by 1.6% to hover around the $3,330 level, while Bitcoin (BTC) gained 5.7% in the past 24 hours.

Asian markets ended Wednesday’s trading session on a largely positive note.

The TWSE Capitalization Weighted Stock Index rallied 4.31%, followed by the Hang Seng index, which gained 2.31%. The Nikkei 225 surged 1.86%, while KOSPI ended 1.54% higher.

However, the Shanghai Composite index ended 0.10% lower.

Tesla, Intel Among Stocks In Focus

Elon Musk-led Tesla reported its first-quarter earnings on Tuesday during after-market hours, missing Wall Street estimates on both the earnings and revenue front.

However, Musk’s comments about taking a more proactive role in Tesla’s operations, and taking a step back from the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), sent Tesla stock soaring more than 7% in Wednesday’s pre-market trading session.

Intel’s new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, is reportedly set to announce a 20% workforce reduction at the chipmaking giant this week. Reacting to the news, Intel’s stock surged nearly 5% in pre-market trading.

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