It is a confusing time to be shopping for a house.

I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles.

First stock futures are pointing up this morning after some better than expected results from technology companies.

Marketplaces, Nancy Marshall-Genzor reports.

Tech futures rose after the latest earnings reports from META and Microsoft.

Meta revenue was up 16% year over year.

The average price per ad was also up, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg says meta is making good

progress on AI glasses and meta-AI.

Microsoft reported quarterly net income of more than $25 billion, an increase of 18% for the quarter.

Investors were also buoyed by reports from Chinese state media that the U.S. had reached out to Beijing to set up talks over tariffs.

A social media account affiliated with state media said there's little downside in exploring that.

I'm Nancy Marshall Genser for Marketplace.

Indeed, index futures are up with the NASDAQ up 1.7% at the moment. S&P futures up 1.2%.

As we use President Trump's 100 days as an invitation to review the overhaul so far, what does a political scientist think who whispers in the ear of corporations trying to navigate these uncertain times?

We're joined now by Ian Bremmer, founder and president of the Political Risk Consultancy, the Eurasia Group. Ian, great to have you back.

David, always good to talk to you.

You've written this, but say it aloud for us. The tariff policy is the most what?

It's the greatest act of geopolitical self-harm I've seen in my career as a political scientist. All right, but what about as a bargaining tool for the Trump

administration to get some countries talking about their trade policies and other arrangements?

It works that way to some extent. It should work that way. And the U.S. is, of course, the

strongest economy. It's the most powerful country in the world. But for example, if the United

States is trying to get a whole bunch of countries that are aligned to work with the Americans,

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