Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Back and forth
2. Man of steel
FILE PHOTO: A worker welds a steel tube at HCC, a company that uses parts to make combines, at the factory in Mendota, Illinois, U.S., February 21, 2025.
Vincent Alban | Reuters
President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports take effect Wednesday — and Europe was quick to respond. The European Union said it would impose tariffs on more than $28 billion worth of U.S. goods, effective in April, as a countermeasure to what the European Commission called “unjustified trade restrictions.” On Tuesday, Trump briefly planned to impose tariffs as high as 50% on steel and aluminum imports from Canada in response to a plan out of Ontario to establish a 25% tax on electricity exports to the United States. Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Trump both walked back their threats after some hours.
3. CP👀
A customer shops at a Whole Foods grocery store in Edgewater, New Jersey, on Sept. 11, 2024.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC
Eyes out for CPI. The latest consumer price index report is due Wednesday morning and is projected to show an increase of 0.3% in February. That would put the headline inflation reading at 2.9% on an annual basis, 0.1 percentage points below January levels. While that result would signal a steady drawdown in inflation from multi-decade highs, it would still be well above the Fed’s target.
4. Ceasefire plan
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, during his visit to Jidda, Saudi Arabia, on March 10, 2025.
Saudi Press Agency | Via Reuters
Ukraine has agreed to a 30-day ceasefire, provided Russia signs on. The plan, brokered by the U.S. during seven hours of negotiations in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, includes the U.S. lifting its pause on intelligence sharing and security assistance to Ukraine. Russia’s initial response appeared hesitant: “You are jumping the gun, we have contacts scheduled with the Americans and then we’ll see,” Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday.
5. Cloudy outlook
A Delta Airlines’ Boeing 737 plane and a Delta Airlines’ Bombardier CRJ-900LR plane taxi at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York on May 24, 2024.
Charly Triballeau | AFP | Getty Images
Airlines say travel demand is waning, at least in the short term. American Airlines and Delta Air Lines both lowered their first-quarter forecasts this week, citing a weaker economic environment. The carriers have seen notable declines in leisure travel as well as government travel. “I think people are cautious and they’re pulling back a little bit on travel, not in an organized manner but just kind of waiting to see what’s going to transpire,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said at a conference.
– CNBC’s Brian Evans, Katrina Bishop, Amala Balakrishner, Kevin Breuninger, Jeff Cox, Dan Mangan, Holly Ellyatt and Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.
