U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Tuesday after taking in trillions of dollars in losses since last week, signaling a rebound as investors keenly await any sign of the U.S. opening up for negotiations over some of the aggressive tariffs.
Most megacap and growth stocks ticked higher in premarket trading, with Tesla (TSLA.O), Amazon, Meta Platforms (META.O) and Nvidia rising close to 2% each.
Uncertainty, however, persisted after China said on Tuesday it will never accept the "blackmail nature" of the U.S. to Trump's threat to ratchet up tariffs on imports from China to more than 100%.
This was in response to China's decision to match 'reciprocal' duties he initially unveiled last week.
Wall Street has sold-off sharply since the sweeping import tariffs were announced, leaving the S&P 500 (.SPX) near its lowest levels in more than 11 months.
The Nasdaq (.IXIC) confirmed a bear market on Friday, while the S&P 500 and the Dow (.DJI) are down more than 15% from their record-high closes.
Dow E-minis were up 644 points, or 1.69%, S&P 500 E-minis added 56.5 points, or 1.11%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 156.5 points, or 0.91% by 04:27 a.m. ET.
Worries that the aggressive U.S. tariffs could spur inflation and tip the global economy into a recession have led to greater pricing of interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
"While the growth outlook has worsened, the risk of higher US inflation has also increased, and this looks set to remain the priority for the FOMC," said Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at financial services firm Ebury.
Traders see more than 96 basis points of easing by the December, implying three fully priced in 25-bps cuts and a 84% chance of a fourth such a reduction, according to LSEG data.
A consumer price inflation reading is also due on Thursday, which could offer more clues on the inflation trajectory.
Providing some cushion to U.S. equities was easing Treasury yields, with those on the 10-year note easing a touch to 4.14% after surging more than 16 basis-points in the last session.
The CBOE Volatility index (.VIX) - seen as Wall Street's 'fear gauge' - eased to 44.1 points after rising to more than 60 on Monday - levels last seen back in August.
Among individual stocks, chipmaker Broadcom (AVGO.O) advanced 3.3% after the company said it was launching a new share buyback program of up to $10 billion, set to run through the end of the year.
Marvell Technology (MRVL.O) gained 2.9% after German chipmaker Infineon Technologies (IFXGn.DE) said it would buy the company's automotive ethernet business for about $2.5 billion in cash.
UnitedHealth Group (UNH.N) jumped 5.8% after the U.S. announced 5.06% increase in payment rates to private insurers for 2026 Medicare Advantage health plans.
Other health insurers such as Elevance Health (ELV.N) and Humana (HUM.N) also rose in low volumes.
