U.S. stock futures were lower on Thursday after mostly closing higher on Wednesday. Futures of major benchmark indices were trading lower in premarket.
Wednesday saw a positive momentum in tech stocks led by Nvidia Corp. NVDA following the deals with Saudi Arabia, strong earnings from Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO and CoreWeave Inc. CRWV.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who last year sparked “Jensanity” among attendees, will headline this year’s annual Computex trade show, which will run from May 20–23 in Taipei, reported Reuters. His keynote is expected to spotlight Nvidia’s deepening partnerships with Taiwanese firms like Foxconn and Quanta.
Investors assessed the economic impacts of a tariff pause with China and await the Producer Price Index data slated to be released today.
The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.50% and the two-year bond was at 4.03%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool’s projections show markets pricing a 91.7% likelihood of the Federal Reserve keeping the current interest rates unchanged in its June meeting.
| Futures | Change (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | -0.42% |
| S&P 500 | -0.81% |
| Nasdaq 100 | -0.63% |
| Russell 2000 | -0.35% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF QQQ, which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, fell in premarket on Thursday. The SPY was down 0.68% to $583.57, while the QQQ declined 0.87% to $514.18, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Cues From Last Session:
Driven by renewed risk appetite after U.S.-China trade negotiation progress, information technology and communication services sectors led gains on Wednesday, bucking the broader negative trend where health care, materials, and real estate stocks saw the biggest losses.
Overall, U.S. stocks settled mixed, with the S&P 500 extending its gains for a third session, up over 4% week-to-date, while the Dow added around 2% and the Nasdaq surged over 6% for the week.
Notably, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD shares climbed significantly. Separately, U.S. mortgage applications saw a modest increase of 1.1%.
The Dow Jones index declined 89 points or 0.21% to 42,051.06, whereas the S&P 500 index rose 0.10% to 5,892.58. Nasdaq Composite ended 0.72% higher at 19,146.81, and the small-cap gauge, Russell 2000, dropped 0.88% to 2,083.80.
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Nasdaq Composite | 0.72% | 19,146.81 |
| S&P 500 | 0.10% | 5,892.58 |
| Dow Jones | -0.21% | 42,051.06 |
| Russell 2000 | 0.88% | 2,083.80 |
Insights From Analysts:
According to Scott Wren, the senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo, despite having a bit of a surprise in the outcome in terms of the U.S.-China trade talks, “The bottom line is that many uncertainties remain.”
“The U.S. is in the early stages of trade negotiations. Given that, our guidance is to continue to lean toward higher-quality large- and mid-cap U.S. equities. In fixed income, we favor exposure to investment-grade corporates and essential-service municipal bonds in the three-to-seven-year maturity range,” he said.
He highlighted that the market bounce back hinged on a variety of factors, including better-than-expected earnings and, particularly, guidance during the first-quarter reporting season as well as expectations that some trade deals would be announced (i.e., last week’s U.K. deal).
It also has helped that much of the reported data covering April has so far continued to show U.S. economic resilience, he explained.
Talking about the U.S.-China deal, he said, “Of course, as always, the devil is in the details, and a deal has not officially been inked. A lot can happen between now and then.”
Meanwhile, the analysts at BlackRock said that “We eye opportunities from mega forces,” adding that “We still see tariffs causing further contractions in quarterly activity but the cumulative impact may be more limited.”
“We still see supply disruptions upping inflation and hitting growth, but also a path to avoiding a U.S. contraction over 2025 as a whole. Mega forces, greater fiscal spending, and higher interest rates are driving select opportunities,” the note added.
See Also: How to Trade Futures
Upcoming Economic Data
Here’s what investors will keep an eye on Thursday:
- The initial jobless claims data for the week ended May 10 will be out by 8:30 a.m. ET.
- April’s U.S. retail sales, core and headline producer price index, May’s Empire State manufacturing survey, and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey will also be announced at 8:30 a.m. ET.
- Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will speak at 8:40 a.m. ET.
- April’s industrial production and capacity utilization will be out by 9:15 a.m. ET.
- March’s business inventories data and May’s home builder confidence index will be released by 10:00 a.m. ET.
- Fed Governor Michael Barr will speak at 2:05 p.m. ET.
Stocks In Focus:
- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. ADR BABA fell 1.12% as analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of $1.37 per share on revenue of $33.21 billion, before the opening bell.
- Deere & Co. DE was down 0.24% as Wall Street expects it to report earnings before the opening bell. It is expected to post earnings of $5.58 per share on revenue of $10.79 billion.
- Walmart Inc. WMT was 0.43% higher as analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of 58 cents per share on revenue of $165.88 billion, before the opening bell.
- Boot Barn Holdings Inc. BOOT jumped 14.51% despite posting downbeat earnings for its fourth quarter, but issued first-quarter guidance with its midpoint above estimates. The company also announced a $200 million share repurchase program.
- Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO advanced 3.44% after posting stronger-than-expected results for its third quarter and raising its fiscal 2025 guidance.
- Boeing Co. BA was up 0.97% after it inked a record-breaking deal with Qatar Airways of up to 210 planes.
- UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH declined 4.87% after a report that the Justice Department is investigating the company for possible Medicare fraud.
- Charles Schwab Corporation SCHW was 0.93% lower after announcing the redemption of ‘series G’ preferred stock.
Commodities, Gold, And Global Equity Markets:
Crude oil futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 3.99% to hover around $60.63 per barrel.
Gold Spot US Dollar fell 0.43% to hover around $3,164.60 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $3,500.33 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was lower by 0.31% at the 100.7260 level.
Asian markets ended lower on Thursday except India’s S&P BSE Sensex and Australia’s ASX 200 index. Japan’s Nikkei 225, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, South Korea’s Kospi, and China’s CSI 300 indices declined. European markets were mostly lower in early trade.
Read Next:
Image Via Shutterstock
Add Comment