Stock Futures Slip as Investors Weigh Trump’s Move to Dismiss Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook

Stock futures moved slightly lower Tuesday morning as investors assessed the potential impact of President Donald Trump’s decision to dismiss a high-ranking Federal Reserve official. 

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were down 0.2% recently. Stocks got off to a sluggish start to the week after surging on Friday—the Dow hit its first record closing high of 2025—after Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled that economic conditions may warrant a cut in interest rates when the central bank’s policy committee meets next in September.

Late Monday, Trump said he had removed Lisa Cook from the Fed’s Board of Governors, repeating allegations of mortgage fraud that surfaced last week. Cook, whose term is due to run until 2038, said via a lawyer that Trump had no legal basis to fire her and that she wouldn’t step down. The move to dismiss Cook, who is one of 12 members of the policy committee, raises questions about the independence of the Fed at a time when Trump has been putting enormous pressure on the central bank to cut interest rates.

Investors will be also be keeping a close eye on a handful of economic indicators that are set to be released this morning, including a report on consumer confidence. The big economic report of the week comes Friday, when the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation is scheduled for release.

On the corporate front, Nvidia (NVDA) is in focus ahead of the AI chipmaker’s highly anticipated earnings report, which is due to be released after the closing bell on Wednesday. Nvidia shares were up 0.5% in recent premarket trading.

Shares of other mega-cap technology companies were down across the board this morning, though the moves were modest. Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META), Broadcom (AVGO) and Tesla (TSLA) were each down less than 0.5%.

Among other noteworthy tech sector movers, shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) were up more than 2% ahead of the bell following news that the chipmaker has teamed up with International Business Machines (IBM) to develop ”quantum-centric computing.” IBM shares ticked higher.

Bitcoin remained under pressure this morning, falling below $110,000 for the first time since July 9. The digital currency was trading at $109,600 recently, down from an overnight high of $111,100.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which affects borrowing costs on a wide array of consumer and business loans, was unchanged at 4.28%. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the performance of the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, slipped 0.2% to 98.20.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, dropped 1.7% to $63.70, losing ground for the first time in five sessions. Gold futures rose 0.2% to $3,425 an ounce.