S&P 500 Futures Drop as Nvidia Hit by Chip Curbs

S&P 500 futures fell on Tuesday as investors reacted to renewed uncertainty over Nvidia’s global chip sales following President Trump’s remarks restricting exports of its most advanced semiconductors. Asian stocks pulled back from record highs, with profit-taking in Seoul after the KOSPI’s all-time peak and declines in Tokyo and Taipei. A stronger dollar reflected reduced bets on a December Fed rate cut amid a US data blackout from the government shutdown and weak manufacturing survey results.

Equities

The FTSE 100 fell 0.2% on Monday after a strong October, as investors looked ahead to the Bank of England’s rate decision later this week. The FTSE 250 dropped 0.3%, marking a sixth straight session of declines. Losses were led by materials and utilities stocks. Rio Tinto and Glencore both slipped more than 2%, while Pennon Group, Renewable Infrastructure Group and Greencoat UK Wind declined between 2.8% and 4.7%.

Among major UK companies, AstraZeneca, BP, Diageo and IAG are all due to report earnings this week. Traders expect the Bank of England to keep rates unchanged on Thursday, though recent softer inflation and wage data have prompted talk of a possible cut later in the year. Frasers Group fell 5.4% after RBC downgraded the stock to “sector perform”, and Vodafone slid 5.2% following a UBS downgrade to “sell”. Ceres Power Holdings rose 11.1% after Goldman Sachs added the clean energy firm to its European Conviction List, while Airtel Africa extended its rally with a 5.9% gain following strong earnings last week.

In the United States, markets closed mixed on Monday. The S&P 500 gained 0.17% to 6,851.97, while the Nasdaq rose 0.46% to 23,834.72. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.48% to 47,336.68. Amazon’s share price climbed 4% after it confirmed a $38 billion deal to supply cloud-computing services to OpenAI, which provided much of the day’s market momentum. Afterhours, Palantir rose about 1% after forecasting fourth-quarter revenue above analysts’ estimates.

Forex & Commodities

The US dollar held firm near a three-month high after traders reduced expectations for another Federal Reserve rate cut this year. The dollar index briefly moved above 100 before easing to 99.82. The euro was steady at $1.1525 after touching $1.1498 earlier, while sterling traded near $1.3125, close to its lowest level in five months. The yen strengthened slightly to ¥153.65 per dollar following earlier weakness that prompted verbal warnings from Japanese officials about potential intervention.

Spot gold traded lower at $3,970 per ounce early on Tuesday, under pressure from the stronger dollar and reduced bets on further rate cuts. The metal has fallen more than 8% since its record high in October. Silver slipped to $47.47 per ounce, platinum eased to $1,548 and palladium dropped to $1,404.

Brent crude declined to $64.52 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate fell to $60.68 as traders read OPEC+’s decision to pause output hikes in early 2026 as a sign of potential oversupply.