(Editor’s note: The future prices of benchmark tracking ETFs, the lede, the economic data and the headline were updated in the story.)
U.S. stocks fluctuated on Wednesday, following Tuesday’s rally. Futures of the major benchmark indices were mixed.
U.S. import prices climbed 0.8% in March, marking a 2.1% year-over-year increase—the largest annual jump since late 2024. Despite these mounting cost pressures, New York’s manufacturing sector showed unexpected resilience in April; the Empire State Manufacturing Survey’s headline index surged eleven points to 11.0, signaling a moderate expansion in business activity fueled by significant gains in new orders and shipments.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump fueled the de-escalation narrative, saying that Iran talks “could be happening over the next two days” in Pakistan. The fresh Trump comments built on Vice President JD Vance‘s flagged “a lot of progress” in weekend talks with Iranian officials held in Islamabad.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.25%, and the two-year bond was at 3.76%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 99.5% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged in its April meeting.
| Index | Performance (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | 0.02% |
| S&P 500 | 0.03% |
| Nasdaq 100 | -0.09% |
| Russell 2000 | -0.10% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, were higher in premarket on Wednesday. The SPY was up 0.007% at $694.51, while the QQQ declined 0.099% to $627.98.
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