U.S. stock futures were swinging on Thursday after Wednesday’s rally. Futures of major benchmark indices were mixed.

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing transportation officials and the Federal Aviation Administration to cut red tape, making it easier and faster for space companies like Blue Origin and ULA to get a license for launching and reentering their vehicles.

It could boost Elon Musk and his commercial space exploration company, SpaceX‘s operations.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin BTC/USD trimmed its gains after hitting a fresh all-time high of $124,457.12 per coin.

The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.22% and the two-year bond was at 3.67%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 100% likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting the current interest rates for the Sept. 17 decision.

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, were down in premarket on Thursday. The SPY was down 0.037% at $644.65, while the QQQ declined 0.028% to $580.18, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Sectors on the S&P 500 closed mostly positive, with materials, health care, and consumer discretionary stocks recording Wednesday’s biggest gains. However, consumer staples and communication services stocks bucked the market trend, closing the session lower.

This came as U.S. stocks settled higher, with the S&P 500 closing at another record high.

Performance Food Group Co. PFGC reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter EPS and sales, while Brinker International Inc. EAT posted upbeat fourth-quarter results and raised FY2026 guidance.

On the economic data front, mortgage applications jumped by 10.9% from the previous week.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent intensified calls for the Federal Reserve to cut rates in September, urging a 50-basis-point reduction to make up for what he called missed cuts in June and July, had labor market data been accurate.

The Dow Jones index ended 464 points or 1.04% higher at 44,922.27, whereas the S&P 500 index rose 0.32% to 6,466.58. Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.14% to 21,713.14, and the small-cap gauge, Russell 2000, gained 1.98% to end at 2,328.06.

Brian Therien, a part of the investment strategy group at Edward Jones, noted that earnings results have been stronger than expected, as 91% of S&P 500 companies have reported their results.

He highlighted that 82% of S&P 500 companies have beaten analyst estimates, with an average upside surprise of 8.5%.

As a result, forecasts for earnings growth have been revised sharply higher to 10.3%, from 3.8% at the end of the quarter*, showing that prior downgrades appear to have been overdone, Therien said.

Earnings growth has been led by the communications and technology sectors, both of which are higher by more than 20% year-over-year. Performance has been broad as well, as earnings are down for just one of the 11 sectors — energy — which represents less than 3% of the market capitalization of the S&P 500.

“Earnings growth is forecast to slow over the quarters ahead but still combine for 10.3% growth for 2025, aided by the first quarter’s strong 12.8% rise. With U.S. equity markets near record highs, earnings growth will be important to help drive further gains over the remainder of the year, in our view,” he added.

Meanwhile, Ed Yardeni or Yardeni Research highlighted that the Trump administration is becoming increasingly concerned that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., might soon rule that President Trump lacks the legal authority to impose tariffs as he has been doing.

He underscored his takeaway from a letter dated August 11 sent to the Clerk of the Court by two of the administration’s top lawyers.

“Trump’s lawyers seem to be anticipating that they will lose the case and are asking for a stay if so. That would allow them to ask the Supreme Court to rule on the matter. SCOTUS might pass on doing so if most of the 12 lower-court judges rule against the administration,” he said.

The letter concludes: “In short, the economic consequences would be ruinous…”

Yardeni added that “The conclusion may be exaggerated, but the result would be messy for sure. Foreign governments might not abide by their recent trade agreements with the U.S. Companies that have been paying the tariffs are likely to demand refunds from the Treasury.”

See Also: How to Trade Futures

Here's what investors will be keeping an eye on Thursday:

Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 0.53% to hover around $62.98 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar fell 0.03% to hover around $3,354.76 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $3,500.33 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.08% higher at the 97.9150 level.

Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday, as China’s CSI 300, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, and Japan's Nikkei 225 indices fell, and Australia's ASX 200, South Korea's Kospi, and India's S&P BSE Sensex indices rose. European markets were mostly higher in early trade.

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