Stocks looked set to extend their record-breaking run on Wednesday following earnings reports from two chip companies, while the dollar looked set to carry on sliding after comments from President Donald Trump sparked a brutal selloff for the greenback.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 9 points, or less than 0.1%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% after the benchmark hit a new high on Tuesday, and contracts tied to the Nasdaq gained 0.8%.
The tech-heavy index was racking up gains after semiconductor manufacturer Texas Instruments and chip tool maker ASML both issued solid guidance, which investors took as a sign that the artificial-intelligence boom still has legs.
That narrative will face further tests on Wednesday, with Microsoft, Facebook parent Meta Platforms, and Tesla all reporting after the closing bell.
The Federal Reserve is also set to make its latest policy decision–the central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged, but Chair Jerome Powell’s comments could give the market a better idea of whether there’ll be scope for cuts to borrowing costs later in 2026.
The dollar slipped 0.2% against a weighted basket of its peers on Wednesday, having plummeted the previous session after President Donald Trump said he thought the greenback’s recent selloff was “great.”
The looming threat of a government shutdown and weak economic data have also dragged down the buck, which is on its worst four-day run since Trump imposed sweeping reciprocal tariffs in April 2025.
“All those factors contributed to pre-existing concerns pushing the dollar lower, including questions around the Fed’s independence, tariff policy uncertainty and the fiscal trajectory,” said Deutsche Bank macro strategist Henry Allen.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped 1 basis point to 4.24% in early trading.
Precious metals continued to surge as the dollar weakened: Gold futures jumped 4.3% to $5,299 an ounce, and silver futures surged 8.3% to just under $115 an ounce.
Bitcoin, the large-cap cryptocurrency that tends to reflect broader risk sentiment, climbed 1% over the past 24 hours to $88,953.