By Ed Ballard

Stock futures climbed early Wednesday, bolstered by relief over the Federal Reserve and U.S.-China trade tensions.

Late Tuesday, President Trump said he wasn't planning to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, after saying recently the central banker's "termination cannot come fast enough."

The president also said his 145% tariffs on China "will come down substantially." And Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told investors he believes a trade deal with China can be reached.

Beijing responded Wednesday by signaling that the door to trade talks was open--but not under duress.

--Futures tied to major U.S. indexes rose, with Nasdaq-100 contracts advancing the most, up 2.5%.

--Treasurys rallied, pushing down benchmark 10-year yields.

--The dollar held broadly steady.

--Bitcoin ran up further, trading above $94,000.

--European and Asian stocks rallied. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2.4%.

Coming up today:

--Boeing, GE Vernova, NextEra, AT&T and IBM are among the companies set to report earnings.

--S&P Global's preliminary purchasing managers indexes for April are due at 9:45 a.m. ET.

This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 23, 2025 05:58 ET (09:58 GMT)

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