Jan 12 (Reuters) – Wall Street futures retreated on Monday as the Trump administration’s attack on the Federal Reserve revived concerns over the U.S. central bank’s independence, while a proposed one‑year cap on credit card interest rates weighed on financial shares.
The administration threatened to indict Fed Chair Jerome Powell over his Congressional testimony on a renovation project, a move Powell called a “pretext” to gain more influence over interest rates that President Donald Trump has pressed to cut sharply since taking office in January 2025.
Meanwhile, shares of lenders and credit card firms slid after Trump called for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10% starting on January 20.
Citigroup tumbled 4%, JPMorgan Chase fell 3% and Bank of America dropped 2.5% in premarket trading.
Credit card lender American Express shed 4.8%, while consumer finance firms such as Synchrony Financial, Bread Financial and Capital One slumped between 10.5% and 11.6%.
Fourth‑quarter earnings take center stage this week, beginning with JPMorgan Chase on Tuesday, after the S&P 500 and the Dow closed the first week of 2026 at record levels.
At 5:51 a.m. ET, S&P 500 E-minis were down 0.66% at 6,959 points. Dow E-minis were down 359 points, or 0.72%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 229.25 points, or 0.88%.
J.P. Morgan, Barclays and Goldman Sachs joined Morgan Stanley in postponing their U.S. rate hike calls after data on Friday suggested the labor market was not rapidly deteriorating.
Attention now turns to Tuesday’s U.S. consumer price inflation report, seen as key to gauging the Fed’s next steps.
Goldman Sachs’ Jan Hatzius said the indictment threat against Powell has heightened concerns over the Fed’s independence, though he expects the policy decisions to remain data‑driven.
Among other corporate news, Trump said he might block Exxon Mobil from investing in Venezuela following CEO Darren Woods’ comments that the South American country is “uninvestable.” The U.S. energy major’s shares dropped about 1%.
Walmart rose 3.3% as the retailer, which shifted its listing to the Nasdaq from the NYSE last month, was set to join the Nasdaq‑100 index on January 20.
(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
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