Social media giant Meta (META) will report its first quarter results Wednesday as Wall Street looks for clarity on the impact of President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs on US businesses.

Meta’s report comes after rival Google (GOOG, GOOGL) announced its own earnings last week, beating on both the top and bottom lines on the strength of its ad sales.

During that company's investor call, Google CBO Philipp Schindler said it was too early to comment on the potential economic impact on the current quarter, but did mention that the Trump administration's changes to de minimis exemptions will cause "a slight headwind to [Google's] ads business in 2025."

The de minimis exemption lets companies ship items under $800 to the US without having to pay a duty. That, Schindler explained, will have a particular impact on Google's APAC-based retail customers.

Read more on Yahoo Finance

Gold prices pulled back further from all-time highs of $3,500 on Wednesday dropping around 1.2% by late-morning as geopolitical tensions eased slightly.

Spot gold dipped 0.2%, while U.S. futures slid 0.5%, pressured by a modest rebound in the dollar index.

"The recent de-escalation in U.S. trade friction—highlighted by Trump’s tariff relief orders and China’s rollback of its 125% ethane duty—has dialed down the geopolitical risk premium that had been fueling bullion’s historic rally," said Mohamed Radwan, lead analyst at XMarabia.

The dip represents short-term profit taking by investors, as opposed to a longer-term shift, Marabia added.

He said: "The metal’s role as a hedge against policy uncertainty, currency debasement, and financial stress remains intact—especially with global central banks still cautious and rate paths unclear. Until the Fed firmly signals a pivot or economic momentum reaccelerates, gold retains its strategic appeal."

A firm dollar also contributed to the dip. A strong dollar makes gold more expensive for buyers outside the US.

The pound was lower against the dollar on Wednesday after a strong week of gains, which had pushed it to its highest point since September last year.

Sterling pulled 0.2% lower, to trade below the $1.34 mark. The dollar strengthened even as fears of a recession Stateside begin to solidify.

The dollar index (DX-Y.NYB), which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose 0.2%.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said:

According to the latest HMRC figures, the number of UK residential transactions in March 2025 was 177,370, 104% higher than March 2024 and 62% higher than February 2025.

The moves higher came as buyers and sellers rushed to take advantage of lower rates of stamp duty.

"The Stamp Duty deadline put a rocket under transaction levels based on this data," said Andrew Montlake, managing director at Coreco.

"This is no surprise as the prospect of saving potentially thousands of pounds focuses the mind. The problem is the cliff edge these fiscal initiatives can create.

"Only this morning, for example, the Nationwide revealed house prices fell in April, likely as a result of demand dropping. Looking forward, though, expect transaction levels to remain robust as lenders are proving aggressive at the moment in what is increasingly looking like a rate war as they seek to build their market share. It's looking like a positive summer for the property market right now."

The bank's stock price surged 3.7% in early trade.

Pedro Goncalves reports:

Barclays (BARC.L) reported a stronger-than-expected 19% rise in first-quarter profit, as improved performance in its investment banking division helped the UK lender outpace analyst forecasts.

Pre-tax profit for the three months to March rose to £2.7bn ($3.6bn), exceeding analysts’ expectations of £2.49bn, according to data from LSEG. Group revenues reached £7.7bn, also ahead of the consensus estimate of £7.33bn.

Income at the investment bank, a key earnings driver for the group, rose 16% in the quarter. Barclays also recorded a return on tangible equity — a key measure of profitability — of 14%, a sharp improvement from 7.5% in the final quarter of 2024.

Read more on Yahoo Finance UK

Average UK house prices fell this month after the rush to avoid an increase in stamp duty faded, according to lender Nationwide.

Prices fell by 0.6% in April, with the average price dropping to £270,752 from £271,316 a month earlier. It is the biggest monthly fall in almost two years.

Meanwhile, annual house price inflation fell to 3.4%, from 3.9% in March.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, said this “softening” of price growth was down to the changes to stamp duty at the start of the month, which lowered the threshold for paying the tax.

“Early indications suggest there was a significant jump in transactions in March, with buyers bringing forward their purchases to avoid additional tax obligations," he said.

Read more on Yahoo Finance UK

From our US team:

US stock futures hovered around baseline as Wall Street braced for a busy day of Big Tech earnings and digested President Trump's latest move on tariffs.

Futures attached to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) slipped 0.1%. Futures attached to the benchmark S&P 500 (ES=F) dipped 0.3%. Futures attached to the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (NQ=F) fell 0.4%.

Stocks gained ground on Tuesday as investors found new reason to believe that Trump's upbeat stance on tariff negotiations will result in the new duties ultimately being dialed down.

Trump signed an Executive Order paring back key parts of tariffs affecting automakers, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that a trade deal with an unnamed country was "done, done, done, done."

Meanwhile, speculation continues to circulate over whether China and the US are, in fact, in talks over trade and which country might make a first major move.

On Tuesday evening, Trump said he believed China would "eat" the US's eye-popping tariffs and limit the impact on US consumers, adding that the country "deserved" its 145% rate.

Hello from London. Lucy Harley-McKeown here, ready to bring you the markets and business news of the day.

This morning we've already had the UK house price index from Nationwide and results from Barclays (BARC.L) bank.

Over in the US, there will be ADP payroll data later on, alongside the latest GDP figures.

Among companies reporting results are: Prada (PRP.F), Glencore (GLEN.L), DHL (DHL.DE), Qualcomm (QCOM) and Robinhood (HOOD).

Let's get to it.