NEW YORK, Jan 22, 2026, 07:32 EST
- U.S. stock index futures rose after Donald Trump dropped a Greenland-linked tariff threat.
- European shares rebounded and volatility eased after a bruising week of trade-war jitters.
- Investors are watching U.S. PCE inflation data and a Fed meeting next week.
U.S. stock index futures, which signal how Wall Street may open, rose on Thursday after President Donald Trump backed away from threatened tariffs tied to Greenland. By 5:59 a.m. ET, S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.60%, Nasdaq 100 e-minis gained 0.87% and Dow e-minis added 0.41%. Reuters
The relief rally matters because markets have been trading like they’ve got a hair-trigger on anything that looks like a new trade war. Tariffs are import taxes, and investors worry they can push prices up, squeeze profit margins and drag on growth.
It also hits at an awkward moment. Earnings season is picking up and the Federal Reserve meets next week, with traders trying to map out how long rates stay high if inflation flares again.
Trump, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said: “I don’t have to use force, I don’t want to use force, I won’t use force,” when asked about taking Greenland. He later said a U.S.-NATO framework on Greenland meant he would not impose from Feb. 1 the 10% tariffs he had threatened on goods from eight European allies. Reuters
The political blowback has not gone away. The European Parliament suspended work on an EU-U.S. trade deal after Trump’s tariff threats, delaying votes that had been set for late January, and its trade committee chair Bernd Lange said the threats had broken a previous understanding. Reuters
Markets were rattled earlier in the week when Trump first floated the tariffs and linked them to pressure for a U.S. purchase of Danish-controlled Greenland. On Tuesday, the Dow fell 1.76%, the S&P 500 slid 2.06% and the Nasdaq dropped 2.39%, while the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) jumped to 20.09. “I’m not at the point yet,” said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group. Reuters
The selloff was broad, led by heavyweight tech stocks. Nvidia fell 4.4% and Apple dropped 3.5%, while gold and silver jumped as investors rotated into assets seen as safer during geopolitical stress; Wedbush analyst Dan Ives called the tariff threat an overhang but said “the bark will be worse than the bite.” Fox17Online
Wall Street snapped back on Wednesday after Trump said a framework was in place and the Feb. 1 tariffs would not go ahead. “What is the economic impact is whether we all start imposing tariffs on each other,” said Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy and research at Glenmede. Reuters
In Europe, the STOXX 600 rose 1.2% by 0905 GMT, led by auto and telecom shares, after Trump withdrew the tariff threat and ruled out taking Greenland by force. Still, Kyle Rodda, senior market analyst at Capital.com, warned “the chaos is far from over,” while Matthew Tuttle, CEO of Tuttle Capital Management, said: “The hidden risk is complacency.” Reuters
In U.S. markets, investors pointed to the whipsaw as the story. “Uncertainty just got priced out,” said Matthew Smart, director of financial planning and portfolio analysis at WWM Investments, after Trump’s reversal helped pull Treasury yields off recent highs. Reuters
A big risk is that the calm proves temporary. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said allies will need to step up Arctic security under the framework and said: “I have no doubt we can do this quite fast,” while Germany’s wholesale and export association head Dirk Jandura cautioned: “What President Trump announces today may be obsolete tomorrow.” Reuters
Next up, investors will sift a heavy U.S. agenda: GDP data, weekly jobless claims and the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge. Corporate results are also in focus, with GE Aerospace, Procter & Gamble, Abbott and Intel among companies due to report.
Gold eased on Thursday after a run to record highs, as some money flowed back into riskier assets. ActivTrades analyst Ricardo Evangelista cited a “return of risk appetite” as a drag on safe-haven demand, even as traders kept one eye on the Fed and another on the next headline out of Davos. Reuters
