S&P 500, Nasdaq futures rise ahead of key data, Trump's China visit

S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures rose on Wednesday, recovering from the previous session's losses as investors awaited crucial economic numbers and U.S. President Donald Trump's China visit, even as hope for a lasting peace deal with Iran dimmed.

Talks between the two sides have hit a stalemate. Trump said ahead of the high-stakes summit in Beijing that he did not expect to ask Chinese President Xi Jinping to help resolve the conflict with Tehran.

He also said he would press Xi to "open up" China to U.S. businesses and added Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to a delegation of corporate leaders traveling with him. The world's two largest economies are also considering extending a truce on Chinese rare earth export curbs.

Meanwhile, oil prices fell on the day, snapping a three-session rally and offering markets some relief. [O/R]

Investors remain wary that a prolonged conflict could keep energy prices elevated, adding to inflationary pressures and muddying the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy outlook.

Markets are also bracing for a potentially more hawkish central bank under Kevin Warsh, whom the Senate confirmed to the board on Tuesday and could move to approve as chair as soon as Wednesday. Jerome Powell's term ends on Friday.

At 05:35 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis fell 149 points, or 0.3%, S&P 500 E-minis rose 16.75 points, or 0.23%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis gained 239.75 points, or 0.82%.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite eased from record highs on Tuesday after U.S. consumer inflation posted its sharpest increase in three years in April.

Markets have largely priced out a Fed rate cut this year, while the probability of at least a 25-basis-point hike at the December meeting has climbed to more than 28%, from below 22% earlier in the week, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

Producer price data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET and investors will be watching for signs of building input cost pressures.

Retail sales figures later in the week will also be scrutinized for evidence that higher gasoline and energy costs are starting to squeeze other areas of consumer spending.

A chip-stock selloff that weighed on markets in the previous session appeared to stabilize on Wednesday, with memory-chip makers leading the recovery.

Micron Technology jumped 6.2%, Western Digital rose 3.1%, Seagate gained 2.8% and SanDisk climbed 5.3% in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Ragini Mathur; Editing by Pooja Desai)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 6:29 AM.