Pre-Bell｜Wall St Futures Flat; Nvidia Gains 1%; CVS Health Rises 3%; Ares Management Jumps 8%; ALEX Soars 38%; CoreWeave Falls 2%

U.S. stock index futures were flat on Tuesday as investors remained cautious a day ahead of a long-anticipated monetary policy decision by the Federal Reserve, while Nvidia gained after the chip giant received approval to sell some of its processors to China.

Market Snapshot

At 8:30 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 27 points, or 0.06%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 4 points, or 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were almost flat.

Pre-Market Movers

Nvidia climbed 1% ahead of the opening bell after President Donald Trump said he planned to allow the company to sell its more advanced H200 artificial intelligence chip to China. Trump seemed to imply that Nvidia would pay a 25% fee on any sales to China. He said that Chinese leader Xi Jinping had "responded positively" to the plan, although it remains to be seen whether Beijing will allow Nvidia to sell the H200 in the country.

Trump said the Commerce Department will finalize the details, and the government will allow fellow chip makers Advanced Micro Devices and Intel to do similar deals. AMD and Intel shares added 0.6% each in the premarket session.

CoreWeave Inc. has announced the pricing of its upsized private offering of $2.25 billion aggregate principal amount of 1.75% convertible senior notes due 2031. Shares of CoreWeave fell 2% in premarket trading on the news.

CVS Health on Tuesday forecast 2026 profit above Wall Street estimates and this year's projected earnings, signalling steady progress in the health conglomerate's turnaround plan. Shares of CVS jumped 2.8% in premarket trading.

Ares Management jumped 8.3%. The asset manager, which specializes in private credit, is headed to the S&P 500. Ares, which is one of the largest companies by market value not already in the benchmark index, will replace Pringles and Pop-Tarts owner Kellanova, which is set to be acquired by private company Mars Inc.

Toll Brothers fell 4.5% after the luxury homebuilder missed analysts' earnings estimates for its fourth quarter, although revenue came in above expectations. It's been a bumpy year for homebuilders, with high housing costs squeezing would-be buyers out of the market.

Alexander & Baldwin, the Hawaiian real-estate developer, will be taken private in a $1.54 billion cash deal. The company will be purchased for $21.20 a share by a joint venture formed by MW Group and funds affiliated with Blackstone Real Estate and DivcoWest. Shares of Alexander & Baldwin jumped 38% in premarket trading to $20.83.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings declined 2.4% to $18.65 after being downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs with a price target of $21, down from $23. Viking Holdings, meanwhile, gained 2.4% after Goldman upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral.

Market News

Trump Says Support for Interest Rate Cuts Is Key Test for Fed Chair Nominee

U.S. President Donald Trump said support for immediately cutting interest rates would be a requirement for anyone he chose to lead the Federal Reserve, according to a Politico interview published on Tuesday.

Asked if it was a litmus test that the new central bank chair immediately lower interest rates, Trump told the news outlet "yes".

Trump Says Rate Cut Will Be Litmus Test For New Fed Chair

President Donald Trump indicated he would judge a new Federal Reserve chair by whether they immediately move to cut interest rates.

Trump responded “yes” when asked in an interview with Politico if a quick reduction of borrowing costs would be a litmus test for his handpicked central bank leader.

“Yes. Well, this guy too ... should too,” Trump told Politico in the interview released Tuesday, referring to current Fed Chair Jerome Powell. “I think he’s a combination of not a smart person and doesn’t like Trump.”