Wall St set for muted open as US plans tighter curbs on chip exports to China

Stock futures indicated a subdued opening for Wall Street on Tuesday as markets braced for the potential impact of more stringent U.S. trade controls on Beijing and awaited quarterly earnings from AI-chip leader Nvidia. Investors focused on a report that said the U.S. was planning further restrictions on Nvidia's chip exports to China and that Washington was consulting with allies including Japan and the Netherlands about tightening chip controls on China. Nvidia teetered between minor gains and losses in premarket trading and was last up 0.6%. Other semiconductor stocks were mixed, with Advanced Micro Devices flat, Broadcom up 0.5%, and chip-gear maker Lam Research down 0.6%. Phil Blancato, chief executive officer of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management, said the report was "adding to this matrix of new worries that haven't been in the market before this and if Nvidia can't put up another gigantic number just to sustain its current price, the market is ripe for a selloff". Nvidia's results on Wednesday will be crucial for technology companies as investors question the industry's hefty artificial-intelligence spends after low-cost competition from China's DeepSeek rattled markets in January. The S&P 500 technology sector is on track for its first quarterly decline since July 2023, if losses hold.Megacaps were also mixed. Apple inched up 0.1%, while Alphabet edged down 0.5%. At 08:40 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 96 points, or 0.22%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 5 points, or 0.08%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 0.5 points, or flat. Further tempering risk-taking, U.S. President Donald Trump said late on Monday that tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports were "on time and on schedule" ahead of the March 4 deadline. The U.S. and China are already in a trade war and Trump signed an order last week restricting Chinese investments in strategic areas. Along with the potential global impact of these levies, investors are faced with signs the domestic economy is stalling and that the U.S. Federal Reserve will be cautious about cutting interest rates further. Interest-rate futures currently point to a cut of 25 basis points in July and traders are pricing in another reduction before the end of the year, according to data compiled by LSEG.The Conference Board's gauge of consumer confidence is due at 10 a.m. ET, days after the University of Michigan's index showed consumer sentiment is deteriorating.Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said late on Monday that the Fed needs more clarity on the total economic impact of the Trump administration's new policies before it can act.Policymaker Thomas Barkin and Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr are expected to speak through the day. Crypto stocks fell, with Coinbase down 3.7% and MicroStrategy down 4.7%, tracking bitcoin prices, which touched a more than three-month low.Eli Lilly rose 1.5% after the drugmaker said it has begun selling higher doses of its weight-loss drug Zepbound in vials in the U.S., at a discount to the injector-pen versions.Zoom Communications lost 3.9% after forecasting annual revenue below estimates, while U.S.-listed shares of Li Auto jumped 12.9% after it unveiled its first electric SUV.