US pre-open: Futures higher as Trump takes office

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell as Donald Trump provided investors with multiple attention-grabbing headlines following his second presidential inauguration. As of 1240 GMT, Dow Jones futures were up 0.32%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.23% and 0.24% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 334.70 points higher on Friday as US markets prepared to shut up shop for the three-day Martin Luther King Jr Day long weekend.

Trump was still firmly in focus early on Tuesday, with the president making tariff comments as he was signing executive orders, stating he was mulling over the idea of slapping 25% tariffs on both Mexico and Canada on 1 February due to their border policies. He also mentioned that China might be in the tariff firing line if the country refuses to approve a deal for the sale of TikTok but fell short of specifying any particular plans.

Elsewhere, Trump declared a national energy emergency to increase fossil fuel production and said he will stop leading Federal land for wind farm usage as he stated his return to the White House was the beginning of a period of growth and success for the US.

Also drawing some attention, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, an ally and major financial backer of the president, caused outrage over a one-armed gesture he gave during a speech celebrating Trump's inauguration. Musk thanked the crowd for "making it happen", before placing his right hand over his heart and then thrusting the same arm out into the air straight ahead of him, with many likening the gesture to a Nazi salute.

In the corporate space, 3M, United Airlines and Netflix were all slated to report earnings on Tuesday.

No major data points were scheduled for release on Tuesday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com