Wall Street Likely To Open On Weak Note

(RTTNews) - Lower futures and escalating fears of a global trade war point to a weak start for U.S. stocks Friday morning.

The Dow futures are down 0.61 percent, the S&P futures are lower by about 0.56 percent, and the Nasdaq futures are down 0.5 percent.

Despite ongoing uncertainty about Trump administration's trade polices, Wall Street settled on a positive note on Thursday with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reaching new record closing highs.

In a Truth Social post Wednesday evening, Trump announced a 50 percent tariff on copper is due to go into effect on August 1st.

Trump also posted several more letters to world leaders on Truth Social revealing plans to increase tariffs.

The Dow closed up 0.4 percent, the Nasdaq edged up 0.1 percent, and the S&P 500 ended 0.3 percent up, on Thursday.

In overseas trading, Asian shares ended weak in cautious trade on Friday after Trump announced a 35 percent tariff on Canadian goods, effective August 1, 2025, and warned of a blanket tariff of 15-20 percent on most trading partners that haven't got letters yet.

Trump also said he would make an announcement regarding Russia, raising the prospect of more sanctions on the major oil producer.

The major European markets are down in negative territory with notable losses, hurt by renewed fears of a global trade war following U.S. President's latest tariff announcements.

In commodities, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are up $0.74 or 1.11 percent at $67.31 a barrel. Gold futures are gaining $34.80 or 1.02 percent at $3,360.50 an ounce.