US stocks hit session lows in late-morning trade on Wednesday after new reports emerged suggesting President Trump is close to firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Near 11:35 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the the S&P 500 (^GSPC) was off 0.4%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell about 0.35%, and the Nasdaq (^IXIC) lost closer to 0.5%.
Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing a White House official, that Trump was considering firing Powell “soon,” with CBS News reporting earlier that Trump had asked a meeting of Republican lawmakers late Tuesday whether he should go ahead and fire the Fed chair. The New York Times also reported Trump has drafted a letter firing Powell, and showed lawmakers during Tuesday’s meeting.
Stocks had opened Wednesday’s session mixed as Wall Street weighed a surprise inflation print and scoured the latest batch of earnings for signs that corporate America is weathering the tariff turmoil.
Solid earnings from Bank of America (BAC) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) helped ease some Wall Street worry about President Trump’s cycle of escalating tariff threats. BofA’s trading desks benefited from trade policy-driven market gyrations, as did those at fellow banks Morgan Stanley (MS) and Goldman Sachs (GS).
Read more: Full earnings coverage in our live blog
At the same time, markets took in a wholesale inflation checkup on Wednesday that provided better news on price pressures. The Producer Price Index print for June came in unchanged on a monthly basis and rose 2.3% year over year, below estimates.
The release came after the latest consumer price index reading spurred traders to pare bets on Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts. Tuesday’s CPI report showed inflation accelerated in June. It rose at its fastest year-over-year clip since February, with signs of tariff-driven inflation starting to show up in the data.
As the market attempts to digest the early effects of Trump’s trade moves, he has signaled that tariffs on drug imports will probably come in on Aug. 1, when the pause on implementation of “reciprocal” rates lifts. Implementation of levies on semiconductors are likely to follow the same timeline.
Read more: The latest on Trump’s tariffs
Meanwhile, Trump has plowed ahead with plans to impose increased duties next month on key trading partners, including the European Union, Canada, and Mexico. Trump announced Tuesday that the US had reached a deal with Indonesia as it continues talks.
LIVE 11 updates
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Stocks sink as Trump moves to fire Powell
President Trump asked Republican members of the House of Representatives if he should fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell in the Oval Office on Tuesday night, CBS News reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources. The New York Times reported that Trump had showed off a draft of a letter firing Powell during the meeting.
The Republican representatives voiced approval for such a move, CBS reported.
Shortly after the CBS report, Bloomberg reported that Trump is likely to fire Powell soon, citing a White House official.
All three major indices fell after the news to touch lows for the day. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 0.45%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) dropped nearly 0.6%.
The US Dollar DXY (DX-Y.NYB) fell roughly 0.9% following the news.
Meanwhile, bets on Fed rate cuts rose from earlier in the day after weaker-than-expected inflation data out earlier Wednesday morning. As of late Wednesday morning traders saw a more than 70% chance of the Fed cutting rates in September, versus roughly 56% earlier in the day, according to CME Group.
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Expectations for Fed rate cuts in September are falling
Investor speculation that the Fed will hold rates steady not just this month but also in September is growing.
According to the CME Group, traders are pricing in a 44% chance that the Fed will not cut rates in September, up from 30% last week.
Investors see a more than 54% probability of a 25 basis point cut in September, down from roughly 66% last week. And traders are betting that there’s a slim, 1.4% chance that the central bank will cut rates by 50 basis points, down from 4.2% last week.
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Johnson & Johnson stock climbs after earnings beat
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) stock climbed nearly 5% Wednesday after the drugmaker’s latest earnings results topped expectations and the company raised its financial outlook for the year.
The pharma giant reported revenues of $23.7 billion, higher than the $22.8 billion expected by Wall Street analysts. Earnings per share came in at $2.77, compared to the $2.66 projected, Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani reports.
The company also raised its revenue guidance for the year to a range between $93.2 billion and $93.6 billion, up from its prior range of $91 billion to $91.8 billion. JNJ lifted full year earnings per share guidance by $0.25 to $10.85.
Khemlani writes:
Read more about JNJ’s latest earnings results here.
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US stocks edge up at the open
US stocks inched higher Wednesday morning as investors digested another round of corporate earnings results and a wholesale inflation checkup.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose about 0.3% after shedding over 400 points on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) was up nearly 0.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) was just above the flatline after notching a fresh record Tuesday as AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) hit a new high.
Shares of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Bank of America (BAC) and Goldman Sachs (GS) rose after reporting solid earnings results, while Morgan Stanley (MS) stock fell despite the bank’s own earnings report topping Wall Street’s projections.
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Trending tickers: J&J, ASML, Goldman Sachs, SharpLink Gaming
Here’s a look a the top trending tickers in premarket trading as earnings season kicks off:
Read more live coverage of earnings season here.
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Wholesale prices increase less than expected in June
Wholesale prices rose less than expected in June.
Wednesday’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that its producer price index (PPI) — which tracks the price changes companies see — rose 2.3% from the year prior, below the 2.7% seen in May and lower than the 2.5% increase economists had projected. On a monthly basis, prices were flat. Economists had expected 0.2% increase.
Excluding food and energy, “core” prices rose 2.6% year over year, below the 3.2% gain seen in May. Economists had expected an increase of 2.7%. Meanwhile, month-over-month core prices were flat below the 0.2% increase economists had expected and the 0.3% gain seen last month.
The report follows Tuesday’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report which showed core price increases accelerated to 2.9% in June.
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Goldman stock gains as trading and dealmaking boosts profits
Shares of Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Citigroup (C) were moving higher in premarket trading on Wednesday after the Wall Street firms reported higher dealmaking and trading revenue this week to kick off earnings season.
Yahoo Finance’s David Hollerith reports:
Read more here.
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Markets are now ho-hum about tariff threats. Trump and Wall Street disagree about why.
Yahoo Finance’s Ben Werschkul reports:
Read more here.
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Chip linchpin ASML warns on 2026 growth amid tariff headwinds
ASML (ASML, ASML.AS) shares slumped almost 8% in premarket trading after the chip industry linchpin said it may not achieve growth in 2026.
The warning came even as the world’s biggest supplier of chipmaking gear’s second quarter bookings topped Wall Street estimates on Wednesday.
Reuters reported:
Read more here.
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Gold rises as trade war fears bolster haven asset
Gold (GC=F) rose overnight Tuesday as a wave of tariff updates did little to appease flighty investors looking for safe investments. With multiple rocky trade deals on the table, markets have pushed back into the valuable metal which has risen by over 25% this year so far.
Bloomberg reports:
Read more here.
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Trump order to open up private investment to retirement plans.
President Trump is in the process of signing an executive order that will allow retirement plan providers to invest more heavily in private assets, according to those familiar with the matter. The order should take place within the next few days and will open up retirement plans to riskier investments.
Reuters reports:
Read more here.
