US stock futures down. Dow off 400 pts. Investors skittish on tariffs and Fed independence

Medora Lee, USA TODAY

Mon, Apr 21, 2025, 5:03 AM 2 min read

U.S. stock futures are pointing to a lower open as fears reemerge that President Donald Trump's tariff plan or his attack on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will hurt the economy.

On Sunday, Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said in a CBS interview that the tariffs could lead U.S. economic activity to “fall off” by the summer from "artificially high" activity caused by panic purchasing ahead of tariffs.

Last week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Trump's tariffs could present a potential conflict between its mandate to keep prices stable and promote full employment. He said the Fed could wait for more clarity on tariffs and their effect on the economy.

Separately, Trump has begun to escalate his attacks on Powell, which has people nervous about the Fed's independence to decide monetary policy. On Friday, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said that Trump and his team would study whether firing the Fed Chair was an option.

That followed Trump's comments on Thursday that Powell's "termination cannot come fast enough," as the President renewed his calls for more interest-rate cuts.

At 7:55 a.m. ET, blue-chip Dow futures fell 1.04%, or 410 points, to 38,919.00; broad S&P 500 futures dropped 1.31%, or 69.75 points, to 5,243.00; and tech-laden Nasdaq futures shed 1.59%, or 292 points, to 18,088.75.

Stocks ended last week in the red, making it the third out of four losing weeks for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

• Tesla has delayed the launch of its cheaper Model Y car, according to Reuters. The EV-maker's quarterly earnings are due later this week.

• Nvidia shares are lower in pre-market trade after Reuters reported Huawei Technologies planned to begin mass shipments of an advanced AI chip to Chinese customers as early as next month.

• Capital One Financial received approval from U.S. banking regulators on Friday for its $35.3 billion purchase of Discover Financial Services.

Medora Lee is a money, markets and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at mjlee@usatoday.com and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday morning. 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: US stock futures lower with investors worried about trade war, Fed