S&P, Dow futures steady as MidEast deal in focus
Meanwhile, shares of chip and software companies were broadly lower following earnings reports from a few companies in the sector.
Stock futures in the US remained stable on Thursday as investors awaited news of a Middle East peace deal. Dow futures held steady at 124 points or 0.23%, while S&P 500 E-minis rose by 4.5 points or 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis slipped by 225.25 points or 0.76%. Data storage giant Western Digital witnessed a steep decline of 15.5% in early trading, while memory chip maker Sandisk fell 10.1% after achieving a 200% and 400% year-to-date increase.
Both companies reported strong quarterly earnings, driven by AI-driven demand. However, their growth expectations had already been priced in, leading to a decline in their shares. Other chip stocks, such as Micron, Advanced Micro Devices, Marvell Technology, and Intel, also experienced a drop of over 1% each. Software companies, including Atlassian, Salesforce, Adobe, and Zscaler, faced a sharp decline following earnings reports.
AppLovin, a marketing platform, saw a 18.7% drop after missing Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue. Meanwhile, Datadog, a cloud security firm, lost 22.3% after reporting second-quarter results. Major companies like Meta and Amazon showed slight gains, while Alphabet increased by about 0.5%, a day after announcing leadership changes in its AI division.
Apple's shares rose by 0.8%. SpaceX gained 1.5% ahead of the first expiry of its share lockup following its IPO. The AI-linked group of stocks showed signs of cooling after a recent rally. The Nasdaq index is nearly 3% away from its all-time high, rebounding from last week's lows and showing signs of a potential correction. Brent crude prices hovered around US$80 a barrel as investors awaited signs of an Iran-US deal.
The Federal Reserve is closely monitoring energy costs, with most central bankers ready to act if price pressures rise. St Louis Federal Reserve President Alberto Musalem is scheduled to speak on monetary policy later in the day. The probability of no change or a rate hike in September, as indicated by the CME FedWatch Tool, has become nearly even.
Last week, traders priced in a 37% chance of a rate hike and 63% probability of no change. Additionally, a weekly jobless claims report and the much-anticipated July non-farm payrolls figures are expected later in the day. In other news, biotech company Moderna saw a 3.9% rise following the FDA's approval of its flu vaccine for individuals aged 50 and older.
Written by urgent.news from Free Malaysia Today's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
