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. (NASDAQ:NVDA) following the deals with Saudi Arabia, strong earnings from Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) and CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ: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 (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ: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. (NASDAQ: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:
Stocks In Focus:
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.
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