Nasdaq, S&P 500 Futures Wobble As Trump-Powell Clash Rattles Markets: Why CRML, HIMS, WMT, NFLX, NVAX, COF Are On Traders' Radar Today

• An escalating clash between President Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell shook investor confidence ahead of a busy week of bank earnings. 
• Risk sentiment weakened in the market, even as retail traders on Stocktwits kept a relatively upbeat view on major ETFs like QQQ. 
• Geopolitical and political headwinds drove investors into safer assets like gold, which hit record highs. 

U.S. stock futures were sliding early Monday as risk sentiment weakened and volatility crept back into markets ahead of big bank earnings week on Wall Street.

A key driver overnight has been the escalating tensions between President Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, with Powell disclosing that the Fed has been served grand jury subpoenas, raising concerns over central bank independence. Meanwhile, Trump is also reportedly meeting with senior officials to discuss responses to escalating protests in Iran.

As of 3:00 a.m. ET on Friday, Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.8%, S&P 500 futures, Dow futures, and the Russell 2000 futures traded 0.5% lower.

On Stocktwits, however, retail sentiment toward the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500 Index, remained ‘neutral’, down from ‘bullish’ last week. While sentiment toward the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ETF, which tracks the Nasdaq 100 Index, has held at ‘extremely bullish’ levels amid high message volumes. Both were trending on Stocktwits, along with the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) and the iShares Silver Trust (SLV).

Trending Stocks To Watch

American Express (AXP), Capital One (COF), MasterCard (MA), Synchrony (SYF), and Visa (V): President Trump called for a 1-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates effective Jan 20. Watch out for major issuers as profit margins come under pressure post this development.

Netflix (NFLX): Among the top-trending tickers on Stocktwits as investors watch for developments around the potential acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. 

Novovax (NVAX): Garnering a lot of retail attention as the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference kicks off this week. 

Critical Metals Corp (CRML): Trending on Stocktwits on comments from the President, who on Sunday said that the U.S. needs to acquire Greenland because otherwise Russia or China could take over the territory due to its lack of defense. Meanwhile, the Group of Seven (G7) Finance ministers meet in Washington today to discuss rare earths

Him & Hers Health (HIMS): Watch out for this stock as investors digest Amazon’s (AMZN) announcement that it would begin offering Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill through its pharmacy platform. 

Allegiant (ALGT) is set to acquire Sun Country (SNCY) in a $1.5 billion cash-and-stock merger.

ExxonMobil (XOM): Trump has reportedly signaled he is ‘inclined’ to exclude it from operations in Venezuela after the CEO called the country ‘uninvestable.’

Walmart (WMT) announced a major partnership with Google (GOOGL) to integrate shopping directly into the Gemini AI platform.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM): Shares are in focus ahead of their Tuesday morning earnings release, which kickstarts a week of quarterly reports from big Wall Street banks. 

Other Catalysts To Watch

On the economic front, investors are looking ahead to the release of December's Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Tuesday. They will also be watching for commentary from New York Fed President John Williams and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, who are set to speak later in the day.

The other factor at play this week will be the US Supreme Court’s ruling on Trump’s tariffs. On Friday, they failed to weigh in on the matter and set the next opinion day for Wednesday.

On the earnings radar, Sify (SIFY) reports numbers today. 

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com

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