Stock Market Today: US Futures Edge Higher As Investors Await Earnings From McDonald’s, Uber And Walt Disney – Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS)

U.S. stock futures rose on Wednesday after ending lower on Tuesday. Futures of major benchmark indices were up.

President Donald Trump indicated the possibility of imposing tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals that could rise up to 250%, indicating the highest rate he has proposed so far.

He also indicated that levies on semiconductor imports would be announced within the next week.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.24% and the two-year bond was at 3.74%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing an 85.5% likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting the current interest rates for the Sept. 17 decision.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, rose in premarket on Wednesday. The SPY was up 0.37% at $630.30, while the QQQ advanced 0.19% to $561.35, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Cues From Last Session:

Materials and consumer discretionary stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session higher on Tuesday, while communication services, information technology, and utilities stocks recorded the biggest losses on the S&P 500.

U.S. stocks settled lower, with the Nasdaq Composite falling more than 100 points during the session, as most sectors closed on a negative note.

Palantir Technologies Inc. PLTR delivered a standout performance, with the artificial intelligence-driven software company’s stock climbing around 8% after it exceeded Wall Street’s revenue and earnings forecasts.

Pfizer Inc. PFE also reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised its FY 2025 adjusted EPS guidance above estimates. In contrast, shares of Inspire Medical Systems Inc. INSP dipped more than 32% after the company reported worse-than-expected second-quarter GAAP EPS and cut its FY25 guidance below estimates, leading to multiple analyst downgrades.

On the economic data front, the US trade deficit shrank to $60.2 billion in June versus a revised $71.7 billion gap and estimates of a $61.6 billion shortfall, while the ISM Services PMI declined to 50.1 in July from 50.8 in the previous month, missing estimates of 51.5.

Insights From Analysts:

Senior economist at WisdomTree, Jeremy Siegel, explained that the earnings momentum in the AI bellwethers has largely compensated for near‑term macro jitters.

“Meta beat revenue estimates handily and Microsoft delivered earnings 8% above consensus, pushing both stocks higher. These results show AI’s productivity dividend arriving, a powerful counterforce to tariff‑induced price pressure,” he noted.

Siegel also highlighted that stocks were “hardly” in the “bubble territory,” as the Magnificent 7, excluding Tesla Inc. TSLA traded at a forward price-to-earnings in the low 30s while the median S&P 500 constituent changes hands at 16–17 times next‑year earnings.

“Rotation remains the missing piece. Small‑cap and deep‑value baskets are priced at historic discounts, yet institutional flows are still pinned to mega cap growth. When the Fed finally validates an easing path, the curve will steepen and financing costs for Main‑Street firms will fall; that may be the catalyst for the long‑awaited hand‑off from the Magnificent 7 to the Russell 2000,” he said.

He highlighted that the bottom line was that “policy is too tight for the real data. Hopefully, a Jackson Hole Powell pivot is on the horizon.”

Meanwhile, Ryan Detrick reiterated his old point about the bull markets, which stated that such bull runs become volatile in their third year, but once such markets make it to their second birthday, they keep rising for at least five years.

“Unfortunately, strategists cut their targets on normal third year volatility and just now are upping their targets back to where they started the year,” he added.

See Also: How to Trade Futures

Upcoming Economic Data

Here’s what investors will be keeping an eye on this week;

• On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook and Boston Fed President Susan Collins will participate in a panel discussion at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Stocks In Focus:

• McDonald’s Corp. MCD was up 0.74% in premarket on Wednesday as analysts expect it to report earnings of $3.14 per share on revenue of $6.68 billion before the opening bell.
• Uber Technologies Inc. UBER rose 2.71% as it is expected to report earnings before the opening bell. Analysts estimate earnings of 62 cents per share on revenue of $12.46 billion.
• Walt Disney Co. DIS advanced 2.39% as analysts expect it to report earnings of $1.47 per share on revenue of $23.72 billion before the opening bell.
• Super Micro Computer Inc. SMCI dropped 15.98% after reporting worse-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and cutting its FY26 sales guidance.
• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD slid 5.36% reporting mixed second-quarter results. Its revenue of $7.69 billion beat analyst estimates of $7.41 billion, and adjusted earnings of 48 cents per share missed estimates of 49 cents per share.
• Flywire Corp. FLYW jumped 17.44% after reporting impressive second-quarter results that exceeded analyst expectations, driving significant after-hours trading activity following the earnings announcement on Tuesday.
• Lucid Group Inc. LCID tumbled by 6.61% after the electric vehicle (EV) maker reported second-quarter results that missed analyst expectations and lowered its production forecast.
• Myriad Genetics Inc. MYGN gained 26.61% following second-quarter results that exceeded analyst expectations and raised full-year revenue guidance.

Commodities, Gold, And Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 1.46% to hover around $66.11 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar fell 0.42% to hover around $3,366.52 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $3,500.33 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was higher by 0.02% at the 98.8040 level.

Asian markets rose on Wednesday, except India’s S&P BSE Sensex index. Japan’s Nikkei 225, China’s CSI 300, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, South Korea’s Kospi, and Australia’s ASX 200 indices rose. European markets were also higher in early trade.

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