Stock futures lost ground Thursday morning ahead of the release of closely watched economic indicators, one day after major indexes posted their first gains of the week following a better-than-expected report on inflation.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq were down 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively, in recent trading, while those linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.4%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite posted solid gains on Wednesday, while the Dow fell slightly, as the market took a breather from a sell-off that has erased the big post-election gains that major indexes had recorded.
Entering today’s session, the S&P 500 is 8.9% below its record closing high set just three weeks ago, while the Dow and Nasdaq are down 8.1% and 12.5%, respectively, from their December all-time highs. Investor sentiment has soured amid uncertainty about the potential impact of policies coming from the Trump White House, notably tariffs, and concerns about the health of the U.S. economy.
Market participants will be keeping close tabs on this morning’s scheduled release of the Producer Price Index, a key measure of inflation at the wholesale level, as well as the weekly report on unemployment insurance claims. Consumer price data released Wednesday showed that inflation moderated more than expected last month, but not so much that it added to investor fears about a dramatic slowdown in economic growth,
Shares of the world’s largest technology companies, which led yesterday’s rebound, were mostly lower in premarket trading Thursday. EV maker Tesla (TSLA), which gained nearly 8% on Wednesday, was down 1.5% in recent trading, while Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOG), Meta Platforms (META) and Broadcom (AVGO) each fell less than 1%. AI chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) was flat after surging more than 6% yesterday.
Adobe (ADBE) shares were down 6% after the software provider reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results but issued disappointing guidance.
Intel (INTC) was the big gainer this morning, with shares rising 11%, after the beleaguered chipmaker announced late Wednesday that former board member and chip industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan had been named CEO.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which has fallen sharply in recent weeks amid the mounting concerns about the economy, were up slightly at 4.33% this morning. The yield, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, was trading below 4.20% earlier this week.
Bitcoin was holding steady at around $83,000 in recent trading. Gold futures were up 0.3% at $2,955 an ounce, approaching record-high levels, while West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, fell 0.7% to $67.20 per barrel.