Stock Market

Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq futures stall after Wall Street’s first back-to-back losses this year


US stock futures paused on Thursday, signaling continued caution after Wall Street logged its second straight day of losses, the first back-to-back retreats for the major stock indexes this year.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) and the S&P 500 (ES=F) drifted around the flat line. Meanwhile, contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) edged up 0.2%.

Technology shares led losses on Wednesday, dragging the major indexes into the red. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) closed down 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) dropped 1%. All three benchmarks have now posted back-to-back declines.

AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) saw its stock lose value even after the US formally gave the green light to its chip exports to China, as reports emerged of a 25% tariff on select semiconductor imports. Tariffs have been under question this week as the Supreme Court has pushed past two potential days to announce a ruling on the legality of the framework tariffs have been issued under.

Looking ahead, investors will be watching a fresh batch of earnings from Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), and BlackRock (BLK), alongside the release of weekly jobless claims data.

Investor sentiment also continues to see strong impacts from geopolitical issues, as Trump administration officials met Wednesday with Danish and Greenlandic leaders while the president continues to push for US control of Greenland. A Danish official said the talks failed to resolve what he called a “fundamental disagreement” over ownership.

Markets have also been rattled by Trump’s continued legal and verbal barrage on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Concerns about the Fed’s independence intensified this week after Powell confirmed that the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation involving the central bank chief.

LIVE 2 updates

  • Microsoft to set record with soil credit purchase to offset data centers

    Reuters reports:

    Read more here.

  • Oil prices drop after Trump indicates the US will not intervene in Iran’s attack on civilians

    Bloomberg reports:

    Oil fell for the first time in six days after US President Donald Trump signaled he may hold off on attacking Iran for now.

    Brent (BZ=F) dropped as much as 2.9% to trade below $65 a barrel after gaining about 11% over the past week while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) was near $60. Trump said he’d been assured that Iran would stop killing protesters, reducing the likelihood of an immediate US military response to the demonstrations against the government of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and of disruptions to Iranian production and key shipping lanes.

    Elsewhere, US government data showed nationwide crude stockpiles rose 3.4 million barrels last week — the largest build since early November. The rising inventories, more Venezuelan oil heading to the US, plus a disruption at a key terminal in the Black Sea has pushed WTI to near the deepest discount in 15 months relative to Brent.

    Read more here.



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