Stock index futures mixed after Trump-Xi meet; focus on Amazon, Apple results

[Wall Street sign, New York City, USA]
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Stock index futures searched for direction on Thursday, as traders geared up for Apple (AAPL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AAPL]) and Amazon (AMZN [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AMZN]) results and assessed the latest updates of the U.S.-China trade talks.

S&P 500 futures (SPX [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SPX]) and Nasdaq 100 futures (US100:IND [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US100:IND]) were flat, and Dow futures (INDU [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/INDU]) -0.2%.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced a one-year agreement with China covering [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4510993-trump-cuts-fentanyl-tariffs-on-china-reaches-rare-earths-deal-with-beijing] rare earths and critical minerals, while also halving fentanyl-related tariffs on Beijing (from 20% to 10%), effective immediately, following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday.

"The U.S. (though not yet China) announced a year-long Sino-U.S. trade agreement. The details have to be worked out. Markets are likely to be cheered, but not wildly enthusiastic," UBS' Paul Donovan said.

Traders and investors watched markets end the day mixed on Wednesday after the FOMC announced a 25-basis-point rate cut.

The Fed reduced its benchmark interest rate [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4510518-federal-reserve-cuts-by-another-25-basis-points] by 25 basis points to 3.75%-4.00%, its second straight cut, as it seeks to ease off the brakes in an effort to protect the labor market.

"On rates policy, our economists maintain a baseline of a 25 bps rate cut in December but see the hawkish-leaning signal as consistent with their view of fundamentals pointing to fewer rate cuts than priced by markets," Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid said.

"The Fed spoke with an almost British accent yesterday, cutting rates a quarter point with a Bank of England-like three-way vote split. Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled that a December cut was not inevitable," Donovan said.

Wednesday also saw a slew of tech companies report their earnings, namely Microsoft (MSFT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MSFT]), Alphabet (GOOG [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOG])(GOOGL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOGL]) and Meta (META [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/META]).

Meta Platforms (META [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/META]) was down 7.1% in a premarket trade as it recorded [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4510657-meta-platforms-stock-sinks-after-booking-16b-one-time-charge-in-q3] a one-time income tax charge of nearly $16B and also raised its full-year guidance for total expenses.

Class A shares (GOOGL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOGL]) of Alphabet rose 6.7%, while class C shares (GOOG [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GOOG]) also added 6.7% premarket as the firm delivered its first-ever quarter [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4510644-alphabet-earnings-key-takeaways-as-stock-jumps-6-amid-broad-growth-capex-increase] with $100B in revenue, while its AI assistant Gemini app hit over 650M monthly active users.

Microsoft (MSFT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/MSFT]) was down 3.1% even after it topped quarterly [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4510333-microsoft-slides-even-as-q1-results-top-expectations] expectations, though its investments in ChatGPT developer OpenAI hit its profit.

"Then after the market close, we saw results from Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet send contrasting signals on the payoffs from the AI investment boom. The three tech giants saw their joint capex bill rise 89% Y/Y to $78B in the latest quarter," Reid said.

In the day ahead, traders will get more tech earnings, with Apple (AAPL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AAPL]) and Amazon (AMZN [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AMZN]) set to report after the closing bell.

MARKET SNAPSHOT AS OF OCTOBER 30, 2025 (4:23 AM ET)

CATEGORY
INSTRUMENT (TICKER)
LEVEL
CHANGE
% CHANGE

INDICES
Dow Futures (INDU [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/INDU])
47,530.54
−101.46
−0.21%

S&P Futures (SPX [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SPX])
6,887.89
−2.70
−0.04%

Nasdaq Futures (US100:IND [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US100:IND])
26,114.53
−5.32
−0.02%

TREASURIES
U.S. 2-Year (US2Y [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US2Y])
3.61%
+0.002
+0.06%

U.S. 5-Year (US5Y [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US5Y])
3.72%
+0.004
+0.11%

U.S. 10-Year (US10Y [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US10Y])
4.08%
+0.007
+0.17%

U.S. 30-Year (US30Y [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/US30Y])
4.63%
+0.008
+0.17%

COMMODITIES
Gold (XAUUSD:CUR [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/XAUUSD:CUR])
3,969.18
+37.98
+0.97%

Silver (XAGUSD:CUR [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/XAGUSD:CUR])
47.65
+0.09
+0.20%

Crude Oil (CL1:COM [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CL1:COM])
60.06
−0.42
−0.69%

CRYPTO
Bitcoin (BTC-USD [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BTC-USD])
110,954.54
+846.51
+0.77%

Click to enlarge

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* October FOMC: Powell Pushes Back On December Cut Expectations [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4835002-october-fomc-powell-pushes-back-on-december-cut-expectations]
* After-market movers: Nasdaq futures inch up as Alphabet rises, Microsoft & Meta slip [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4510743-after-market-movers-nasdaq-futures-inch-up-as-alphabet-rises-microsoft-meta-slip]