US Stocks Likely To Open Lower Following Fresh Records From Previous Session: Expert Says, 'Don't Be Scared Of New Highs'

U.S. stock futures fell on Wednesday after scaling fresh records in Tuesday’s session. The futures of all four benchmark indices were trading lower in the premarket.

President Donald Trump, on Tuesday, announced plans to impose a 25% tariff on auto imports, along with tariffs on pharmaceuticals and semiconductor chips.

The auto tariffs are expected to take effect by April 2, based on a report from his cabinet. Tariffs on pharmaceuticals and chips will also start at 25% or higher, with increases over the year. Trump did not specify a start date, allowing manufacturers time to establish U.S. factories to avoid the tariffs.

The 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.56%, while the two-year yield was at 4.30%. According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, there is a 97.5% chance that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged for the March meeting.

Futures	Change (+/-)
Nasdaq 100	-0.09%
S&P 500	-0.10%
Dow Jones	-0.10%
Russell 2000	-0.43%

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, were trading below the flatline on Wednesday. SPY fell 0.12% to $610.73, and QQQ dropped 0.093% to $538.87, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Cues From The Last Session

Energy, materials, and utilities sectors led the gains in U.S. stocks on Tuesday, propelling the S&P 500 to a record-high close. Despite the overall positive trend, communication services and consumer discretionary sectors declined on Tuesday.

The broader market awaited the release of the latest FOMC minutes on Wednesday and monitored other ongoing geopolitical developments.

Last week saw positive momentum across equity markets. The S&P 500 was approximately up 1.5%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.6% last week.

In company news, Fluor Corp. FLR shares plummeted over 8% after the company reported quarterly earnings and revenue below expectations. On the economic front, the NY Empire State Manufacturing Index exceeded forecasts, rising 18.3 points to +5.7 in February.

Index	Performance (+/-)	Value
Nasdaq Composite	0.072%	20,041.26
S&P 500	0.24%	6,129.58
Dow Jones	0.023%	44,556.34
Russell 2000	0.45%	2,290.35

Insights From Analysts

Ryan Detrick, the chief market strategist at Carson Research, pointed out that the S&P 500 scaled its second all-time high of 2025 on Tuesday.

This was the 1,243rd record high over the 17,176 trading days since 1957 when the gauge increased to having 500 stocks.

Processing this data, Detrick highlighted that the S&P 500 hits a new all-time high about once every three weeks.

And with that we have the 2nd all-time high of 2025 for the S&P 500.

Since 1957 (when it become 500 stocks) this is 1,243 ATHs out of 17,176 trading days.

In other words, a new ATH happens about once every 3 wks.

New highs happen, congrats to the investors who remembered. pic.twitter.com/D30va9bi5Y
— Ryan Detrick, CMT (@RyanDetrick) February 18, 2025

He also addressed a very important question, "Should you buy when stocks are all-time highs?" in one of his X posts.

Detrick said, "Don’t be scared of new highs". He substantiated his claims by adding that the index is usually up 71% of the times, a year after scaling an all-time high.

Should you buy when stocks are all-time highs? That's a popular question we often get.

My take is don't be scared of new highs, as the S&P 500 is up a year later 71% of the time after an ATH and up a median of 8.3%. In other words, about normal returns. pic.twitter.com/I01bT0Bgwg
— Ryan Detrick, CMT (@RyanDetrick) February 18, 2025

Talking about the fresh record, Nathan Peterson, director of derivatives analysis at the Schwab Center for Financial Research said: “It seems that stocks can maintain a bullish bias provided the economic data and earnings growth estimates hold up and yields on the 10-year Treasury note remain below the mid-January high of 4.8%."

According to economist Jeremy Siegel, despite the uncertainties, "The stock market continues to perform well, particularly in the tech sector, even as leadership has broadened beyond last year's AI-driven rally."

Professor of finance at the University of Pennsylvania, Siegel also added that "Tesla took a hit on competition from China's BYD, now the world's largest EV maker. Nvidia was hit after the DeepSeek news, but overall, the tech leaders have remained resilient."

See Also: How to Trade Futures

Upcoming Economic Data

Here’s what investors will keep On Wednesday:

On Wednesday, January’s housing starts and building permits data will be out by 8:30 a.m., ET.

January’s minutes of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting will be released at 2:00 p.m., ET.

Fed Vice Chairman Philip Jefferson will speak at 5:00 p.m., ET.

Stocks In Focus:

Analog Devices Inc. ADI was up 0.58% in the premarket on Wednesday ahead of its earnings, which will be released before the opening bell. Analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of $1.54 per share on revenue of $2.36 billion.

Etsy Inc. ETSY advanced 1.24% as Wall Street expects it to report quarterly earnings of 93 cents per share on revenue of $862.82 million. before the opening bell.

Carvana Co. CVNA rose 0.99% ahead of its earnings, which will be released after the closing bell. Analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of 29 cents per share on revenue of $3.31 billion.

Koninklijke Philips NV PHG tumbled 11.69% after reporting downbeat results for its fourth quarter.

Wix.Com Ltd. WIX jumped 6.68% after reporting earnings of $1.93 per share for the fourth quarter, which beat the analyst consensus. But its sales of $460.455 million missed the consensus of $461.748 million.

Aptose Biosciences Inc. APTO plunged 28.20% after it announced a 1-for-30 reverse share split approved by its board of directors. The consolidation will reduce outstanding common shares from 64,301,183 to approximately 2,143,372 shares.

Crown Crafts Inc. CRWS slumped 34.12%, continuing to fall after its third-quarter sales, profit and EPS declined.

Commodities, Gold And Global Equity Markets:

Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 0.89% to hover around $72.47 per barrel.

The gold spot index was up by 0.30% to $2,944.20 per ounce. The Dollar Index was up 0.10% at 107.157 level.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday. China's CSI 300, and South Korea's Kospi index rose. Whereas, Australia's ASX 200, India's S&P BSE Sensex, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, and Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell. European markets were mixed in trade.

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