By Medha Singh and Pranav Kashyap
Jan 12 (Reuters) – Wall Street futures slipped on Monday after the Trump administration renewed its attacks on the Federal Reserve, stoking fresh worries about the central bank’s independence, while a proposed one-year cap on credit-card interest rates dragged on financial stocks.
The administration threatened to indict Fed Chair Jerome Powell over his Congressional testimony on a renovation project, a move Powell called a “pretext” to gain more influence over interest rates that President Donald Trump has pressed to cut sharply since taking office in January 2025.
“Powell has always avoided engaging with questions of political interference. This time he spoke with no holds barred,” said Elias Haddad, global head of markets strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman.
Meanwhile, shares of lenders and credit card firms slid after Trump called for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10% starting on January 20.
Citigroup tumbled 4.2%, JPMorgan Chase fell 2.8% and Bank of America dropped 2.1% in premarket trading.
Credit card lender American Express shed 4.8%, while consumer finance firms such as Synchrony Financial, Bread Financial and Capital One slumped between 8% and 11%.
Fourth‑quarter earnings take center stage this week, beginning with JPMorgan Chase on Tuesday, after the S&P 500 and the Dow closed the first week of 2026 at record levels.
At 7:09 a.m ET, S&P 500 E-minis were down 39.75 points, or 0.57%, Dow E-minis were down 352 points, or 0.71%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 204 points, or 0.79%.
J.P. Morgan, Barclays and Goldman Sachs joined Morgan Stanley in postponing their U.S. rate hike calls after data on Friday suggested the labor market was not rapidly deteriorating.
Attention now turns to Tuesday’s U.S. consumer price inflation report, seen as key to gauging the Fed’s next steps.
Goldman Sachs’ Jan Hatzius said the indictment threat against Powell has heightened concerns over the Fed’s independence, though he expects the policy decisions to remain data‑driven.
“The downside risks to U.S. employment continue to rise, which underscores the need for additional Fed funds rate cuts,” Haddad added.
U.S.-listed shares of gold miners rose after bullion prices broke the psychological milestone of $4,600 an ounce and hit a record high for the first time this year. [GOL/]
Harmony Gold rose 6.6%, while Barrick Mining and Kinross Gold rose 3% each.
Among other corporate news, UnitedHealth Group fell 1.5% after the Wall Street Journal, citing a U.S. Senate committee probing the company’s practices, reported that the insurer used aggressive tactics to collect diagnoses that can increase Medicare Advantage payouts.
Trump said he might block Exxon Mobil from investing in Venezuela following CEO Darren Woods’ comments that the South American country is “uninvestable.” The U.S. energy major’s shares dropped 1.2%.
Walmart rose 3.3% as the retailer, which shifted its listing to the Nasdaq from the NYSE last month, was set to join the Nasdaq‑100 index on January 20.
Iran said Monday it is keeping communications open with the U.S. even as Trump weighed how to respond to a violent crackdown on protests. Trump ratcheted up pressure on Tehran’s leaders, warning that military action remains a possibility in response to violence against protesters.
(Reporting by Medha Singh and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
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