US STOCKS-Wall St futures slip as Trump-led rally pauses

By Pranav Kashyap and Johann M Cherian

March 25 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures struggled for direction on Tuesday, as investors weighed the scope of upcoming reciprocal tariffs, a day after the Trump administration hinted that there might be a softer approach to the policies.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that not all of his threatened levies would be imposed on April 2 and some countries may get breaks, a move Wall Street took as a sign of flexibility on a matter that has roiled markets for weeks.

The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX and the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC closed at their highest level in over two weeks, propelled by a rally in megacap stocks including Nvidia NVDA.O and Tesla TSLA.O.

However, futures lost some ground on Tuesday as uncertainty over the scope of Trump's tariffs weighed on sentiment. A report also said the president is considering a two-step tariff regime next week.

"Just because the bite isn't going to be as bad doesn't mean it's not going to hurt. This is a classic 'buy the rumor, sell the fact' we're seeing," said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.

"There's still a lot of weakness in the equity market. Eventually, it's going to turn lower and buyers don't want to be caught out on the wrong side of the trade."

Tesla rose 1.4% in premarket trading, building on a near 12% surge a day earlier.

The company's market share in Europe continued to shrink year-on-year in February, data showed, as sales of the all-electric car maker dropped for a second month despite rising EV registrations overall on the continent.

KB Home's KBH.N shares fell 8.6% as the homebuilder cut its full-year 2025 revenue forecast.

At 7:25 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were up 1 point, or flat, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 2.75 points, or 0.05% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 0.75 point, or flat.

Also limiting gains among stocks, yields on Treasury notes ticked up, with that on the 10-year benchmark US10YT=RR touching a one-month high. US/

Speeches from Federal Reserve Board Governor Adriana Kugler and Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams are due later in the day.

A slew of economic indicators is set to be released this week, including consumer confidence for March, which is due at 10:00 a.m ET on Tuesday.

Forecasts point to a further deterioration in consumer sentiment, following an eight-month low in February.

The most eagerly anticipated release is Friday's personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed's preferred inflation indicator, which consensus forecasts suggest will hold steady but remain above the Fed's 2% target.

Among others, McCormick & Company MKC.N dropped 3.2% after the food processing company missed estimates on quarterly profit.

CrowdStrike CRWD.O gained 1.7% after brokerage BTIG raised its rating on the cybersecurity company to "buy" from "neutral", while Ally Financial ALLY.N fell 2.4% as BTIG lowered its rating on the financial services company to "sell" from "neutral".