By Sruthi Shankar and Pranav Kashyap
Jan 21 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks were set to open lower on Wednesday after Wall Street’s sharpest selloff in three months, as attention turns to what President Donald Trump will say in Davos after his Greenland acquisition comments unsettled markets earlier in the week.
All three major U.S. indexes ended nearly 2% down on Tuesday, as investors flocked to safe-haven assets after Trump threatened to implement a wave of new tariffs on European allies until the United States is allowed to buy Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
Trump is giving a keynote address at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday, where he is expected to once again make a push towards acquiring Greenland.
“The market is nervous about what Trump may say, but in general, he has a tendency of putting out the worst case scenario and then backpedaling into something more reasonable. That also is in the market’s expectation,” said Gina Martin Adams, chief market strategist at HB Wealth.
The CBOE Volatility index rose to 20.78 points, having touched a two-month high of 20.99 the previous day.
U.S. megacap companies, including Nvidia and Apple, were among the worst hit in Tuesday’s selloff. Combined with a drop in the dollar and Treasuries, the losses revived talks of the Sell America trade that emerged following the “Liberation Day” tariff announcement in April.
By 8:36 a.m. ET, S&P 500 e-minis dipped 11.75 points or 0.17%, Nasdaq 100 e-minis fell 70.5 points or 0.30% and Dow e-minis dropped 153 points or 0.31%.
DAVOS, DATA & EARNINGS
Trump’s Davos address could clarify the White House’s position on Greenland, which would determine whether tensions with Europe intensify or cool down.
Investors will also monitor remarks from other business and global leaders in Davos. Back in Washington, markets will watch the U.S. Supreme Court as it hears arguments over Trump’s push to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
It is also a busy week of U.S. data, including third-quarter GDP, January PMI readings and the Personal Consumption Expenditures report, which is the Fed’s go-to inflation measure. Adding to the mix is a packed earnings calendar featuring Procter & Gamble and Intel, which should provide an insight into consumer demand and the overall economic momentum.
Netflix shares dropped 7.5% premarket after the streaming giant paused share buybacks to help fund the purchase of Warner Bros Discovery’s studio and streaming businesses.
United Airlines rose 3% after the carrier issued an upbeat outlook for the current quarter and the full year, while Halliburton added 2.7% after beating estimates for fourth-quarter profit.
Johnson & Johnson dipped 2.6% despite forecasting 2026 sales and profit ahead of Wall Street estimates.
Of the 33 companies in the S&P 500 that reported quarterly earnings through last Friday, 84.8% beat analysts’ estimates for profit, according to LSEG I/B/E/S data, compared to the long-term average of 67.3%.
Kraft Heinz tumbled 6.8% after a regulatory filing showed Berkshire Hathaway may shed its 27.5% stake in the consumer company.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Shilpi Majumdar)
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