Markets were slow to gain traction in either direction early Tuesday, a day after a surging technology sector boosted Wall Street to another record finish.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were essentially unchanged before the bell.
Trade relations between the U.S. and China took another step backward after China said it is banning exports to the U.S. of gallium, germanium, antimony and other key high-tech materials with potential military applications.
The counterpunch came swiftly after the U.S. Commerce Department expanded the list of Chinese technology companies subject to export controls to include many that make equipment used to make computer chips, chipmaking tools and software. The 140 companies newly included in the so-called “entity list” are nearly all based in China.
The ratcheting up of trade restrictions comes as President-elect Donald Trump has been threatening to sharply raise tariffs on imports from China and other countries.
In equities trading, Tesla shares slipped less than 1% after a Delaware judge late Monday reaffirmed a previous ruling that the electric car maker must revoke Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package. The judge denied a request by attorneys for Musk and Tesla’s corporate directors to vacate her ruling earlier this year requiring the company to rescind the unprecedented pay package.
The proposed Musk compensation package initially carried a potential maximum value of about $56 billion, but that sum has fluctuated over the years based on Tesla’s stock price.
U.S. Steel shares tumbled more than 8% after President-elect Donald Trump reiterated on social media that he would not let Japan’s Nippon Steel take over the iconic Pennsylvania steelmaker.
Nippon Steel announced last December that it planned to buy the Pittsburgh-based steel producer for $14.1 billion in cash, raising concerns about what the transaction could mean for unionized workers, supply chains and U.S. national security.
Earlier this year, President Joe Biden also came out against the acquisition.
In Europe at midday, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3%, Germany’s DAX ticked up 0.1%, while Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.7%.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.9% to finish at 39,248.86. Shares in Tokyo Electron surged 4.3% after the U.S. Commerce Department expanded the list of Chinese computer chip-related companies subject to export controls.
Some analysts think Japanese stocks could end up benefiting from President-elect Donald Trump’s latest threats to raise tariffs on China and other countries. During the weekend, Trump threatened 100% tariffs against a group of developing economies, including China and Brazil, if they act to undermine the U.S. dollar.