Stock Market Today: Stocks lower with White House tariff event on deck

U.S. equity futures moved lower in early Wednesday trading, while Treasury yields and the dollar held steady, as investors braced for what could be a crucial unveiling of President Donald Trump's comprehensive tariff plan later today at the White House.

Stocks ended mixed on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 notching a modest 0.38% gain and the Dow slipping into negative territory, as markets remained on edge heading into today's tariff announcement, expected one our later than expected at 4:00 pm Eastern time in the White House Rose Garden.

The market's benchmark volatility gauge, the CBOE Group's VIX index, was marked 0.5% higher, and trading at the highest level in two weeks, heading into the event, suggesting daily swings of 1.4%, or 78 points, for the S&P 500.

Little is known about the President's plans, although Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has reportedly told lawmakers that the ultimate levels announced today could be a 'cap' used to negotiate with various countries across a range of issues.

Still, investors will be looking for the size, scope, timing, duration and flexibility of the new tariff structure, which arrives as levies on Canada and Mexico are set to resume and one day ahead of new and potentially damaging duties on the auto sector. 

"It is impossible to foresee exactly what menu of tariffs President Trump will unveil, but we can estimate the likely uplift to consumer prices resulting from the different scenarios he has threatened in recent weeks," said Samuel Tombs, chief U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Related: There's no need for a trade war; America's already won it. By a lot.

"But the speed at which consumer prices will respond to higher tariffs also is very uncertain," he added. "Trump might phase-in some tariffs, to see if he can extract concessions from trading partners, and to assess the financial market fallout of his announcements."

The U.S. dollar index slipped modestly lower heading into the tariff announcement, and was last marked 0.11% lower against a basket of six global currencies in early New York trading.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields, meanwhile, nudged a couple of basis points higher to 4.178%, with 2-year notes trading at 3.885%.

On Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 suggest an opening bell decline of around 24 points, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average called 160 lower.

The tech-focused Nasdaq, meanwhile, is priced for a 100 point decline with Tesla  (TSLA) , Nvidia  (NVDA)  and Intel  (INTC)  typically active in premarket trading. 

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Stocks in Europe were also on the back foot, with the regional Stoxx 600 benchmark falling 0.63% in mid-day Frankfurt trading and Britain's FTSE 100 down 0.75% in London.

Overnight in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 edged 0.28% higher from the benchmark's 8-month low, while the regional MSCI ex-Japan benchmark rose 0.3% into the close of trading.