U.S. index futures are mixed in pre-market trading on Thursday following a sharp tech sector sell-off the previous day.
At 5:17 AM, Dow Jones futures (DOWI:DJI) rose 85 points, or 0.21%. S&P 500 futures lost 0.01%, and Nasdaq-100 futures fell 0.10%. The 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.228%.
In commodities, West Texas Intermediate crude for September fell 1.46% to $76.46 per barrel. Brent crude for September dropped 1.41% to around $80.56 per barrel. Oil prices declined due to weak demand in China and the expectation of a Middle East ceasefire, despite falling U.S. oil and gasoline inventories. Global economic uncertainty and peace efforts are adding pressure to prices. Iron ore prices fell nearly 1% on China concerns, and copper dropped 1.2%.
On Thursday’s economic agenda, weekly jobless claims for the week ending last Saturday will be published at 8:30 AM by the Labor Department. Simultaneously, June durable goods orders and the preliminary Q2 GDP reading will be published by the Commerce Department. At 10:00 AM, June pending home sales data will be released.
Asia-Pacific markets faced a broad sell-off, reflecting the impact of Wall Street’s decline. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 3.28%, closing at 37,869.51, the lowest level since April, with notable losses in companies like SoftBank and Renesas Electronics. The yen strengthened for the fourth consecutive day, reaching 152.28 per dollar, and the Bank of Japan is expected to consider a rate hike.
In South Korea, GDP grew 2.3% annually, below expectations, with the Kospi down 1.74% and the Kosdaq falling 2.08%, led by declines in SK Hynix (KOSPI:000660) shares. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 1.67%. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.52% as China cut the medium-term loan rate from 2.5% to 2.3% to stimulate the economy. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also fell 1.29%, while Taiwan’s market remained closed for a second day due to Typhoon Gaemi.
European markets are down, with investors closely watching the earnings season, and the tech sector leading losses, reflecting the previous day’s sell-off on Wall Street. Economically, focus is on German consumer confidence and business activity in the eurozone and the UK, anticipating the eurozone GDP release next week.
On Wednesday, U.S. stocks deepened their decline, with the Nasdaq experiencing a drastic drop, reaching its lowest closing level in over a month. The Dow Jones fell 1.25%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq declined 2.31% and 3.64%, respectively. The sharp drop reflects disappointments in corporate earnings, particularly from giants like Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), and adverse reactions to the economic report on U.S. new home sales.
The U.S. Commerce Department’s report showed an unexpected drop in new home sales in June, with a 0.6% reduction to an annual rate of 617,000. This result contradicted expectations of a 3.4% increase and marked the lowest sales level since November 2023, when sales reached 611,000.
For Thursday’s quarterly reports, American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL), Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV), Royal Caribbean (NYSE:RCL), Honeywell (NASDAQ:HON), Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS), RTX (NYSE:RTX), AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN), Keurig Dr Pepper (NASDAQ:KDP), New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:NYCB), Abbvie (NYSE:ABBV), and more will report before the market opens.
After the close, numbers from Dexcom (NASDAQ:DXCM), Deckers Brands (NYSE:DECK), Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM), Skechers (NYSE:SKX), Lendingtree (NASDAQ:TREE), Comfort Systems (NYSE:FIX), Juniper Network (NYSE:JNPR), Appfolio (NASDAQ:APPF), Texas Roadhouse (NASDAQ:TXRH), among others, are awaited.