Opening Comment — Tuesday, January 20, 2026
DJIA: 49,359.33, down 83.11
S&P 500: 6,940.01, down 4.46
NASDAQ: 23,515.39, down 14.63
Stocks lower as trade concerns rise
Stock futures are lower Tuesday morning following an escalation in tensions over Greenland as President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on countries opposing his plans to take over the island and European nations weighed responses. Investors are also looking forward to major data releases later this week, including November’s personal income and outlays data and preliminary January purchasing managers’ indexes, due Thursday and Friday, respectively. As of 7:15 AM ET, the Dow is decreasing 1.3%, while the S&P 500 is down 1.4%. The Nasdaq 100 is falling 1.7% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were lower on Friday as December’s industrial production rose more than projected while capacity utilization rose to 76.3%. Meanwhile, the National Association of Home Builders’ Housing Market Index unexpectedly declined in January. The Dow was down 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.1%. The S&P 500 decreased 0.1% with five of 11 sectors finishing in negative territory. The Real Estate sector was the top performer, rising 1.2%, while the Health Care sector was the bottom performer, falling 0.8%.
On the data front, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Nonmanufacturing Business Outlook Survey for January will be released today.
Across the pond, European stocks are lower in mid-day trading as Germany’s December Producer Price Index (PPI) registered deflation, falling by 0.2% month-over-month (MOM) and 2.5% year-over-year (YOY). Meanwhile, the U.K.’s three month average unemployment rate through November held steady at 5.1%, while average weekly earnings growth eased to 4.7%. Meanwhile, the country’s jobless claims rose, and the claimant count rate increased in December, following a downward revision to the previous month’s figures. The ZEW measures of economic growth expectations for both the eurozone and Germany rose in January.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mostly lower as China’s fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) showed the economy growing 1.2% quarter-over-quarter and 4.5% YOY. The country’s December retail sales registered smaller-than-expected growth of 0.9% YOY, while industrial production increased 5.2% YOY in December. Japan’s Tertiary (service) Industry Index and manufacturing capacity utilization decreased by 0.2% MOM and 5.3% MOM in November, respectively. South Korea’s PPI increased by 1.9% YOY in December.
In FOREX trading, the U.S. dollar is lower following the latest trade concerns.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 0.4% higher at $59.67/barrel.
In the metals complex, gold is 1.3% higher at $4,730.83/ounce following a weakening U.S. dollar.