U.S. stock index futures edged higher Tuesday, overturning earlier weakness in the wake of the previous session’s sharp gains following reports that the upcoming trade tariffs could be less severe than feared. 

At 08:13 ET (12:13 GMT), Dow Jones Futures rose 65 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures climbed 10 points, or 0.2%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures gained 32 points, or 0.2%.  

The main Wall Street indices posted strong gains on Monday, driven chiefly by hopes that U.S. President Donald Trump will be more flexible with his tariff agenda.

S&P 500 rose 1.8%, the NASDAQ Composite soared 2.3%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained almost 600 points, or 1.4%. 

Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that only some of Trump’s sectoral tariffs will be imposed on his April 2 “liberation day,” and that his reciprocal tariffs will also be more concentrated than previously expected. 

Tariff uncertainty
That said, Trump still kept up his tariff threats, adding on Monday that he will impose tariffs on automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and aluminum in the “very near future,” and said duties on lumber and semiconductors will follow down the road. 

On Tuesday, the European Union trade commissioner is due to meet with U.S. officials in Washington, according to media reports citing an EU spokesperson. Earlier this month, the bloc delayed planned retaliatory tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum levies in a bid to buy more time for talks with the Trump administration.

Markets are still waiting to see just how Trump’s tariff agenda will play out, and how it will impact the global economy. This notion battered Wall Street over the past month, briefly putting indexes at six-month lows and in correction territory.