Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures trade flat as Trump downplays Powell tensions

US stock futures held steady after President Trump visited the Federal Reserve and Wall Street digested the latest batch of corporate earnings.

Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F), the benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F), and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) fluttered up 0.1%.

Trump visited the Fed on Thursday afternoon to take a tour of its $2.5 billion renovation project, led by chair Jerome Powell. The president has spent weeks criticizing the project as too expensive, sparking speculation he might use it as a pretext to try to fire Powell for alleged mismanagement.

During the tour, however, Trump indicated he wasn’t considering firing the Fed chair. “To do that is a big move, and I just don’t think it’s necessary,” he said.

The president also downplayed his disagreements with Powell over interest rates, saying he believes the chair will “do the right thing.” “I’d love him to lower interest rates,” the president reiterated.

Intel reported its earnings after the bell Thursday, beating Wall Street expectations on revenue. The company’s stock turned negative, however, as CEO Lip-Bu Tan discussed layoffs and the cancelation of some factory plans.

In day trading, the S&P 500 scored its fourth consecutive record high in a row as Google (GOOG) earnings boosted optimism about the promises of AI. Wall Street also continued to hope that the Trump administration will strike more trade deals before the president’s Aug. 1 deadline, even as the risk of higher-than-expected baseline tariffs grows.

Read more: The latest on Trump’s tariffs

This week, Wall Street has largely shrugged off trade tensions as Big Tech earnings roll in. Next week brings more market-moving results from members of the “Magnificent Seven,” including Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Meta (META), and Amazon (AMZN).