Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures are currently pointing to a mixed open on Friday, with the major averages likely to once again move in opposite directions. While the Nasdaq 100 futures are down by 0.5 percent, the Dow futures are up by 0.2 percent.
A slump by shares of Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) may weigh on the Nasdaq, as the chipmaker is tumbling by 5.4 percent in pre-market trading.
Broadcom is under pressure despite reporting better than expected fiscal fourth quarter results and providing upbeat guidance for the current quarter.
Chipmakers Advance Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) are also seeing pre-market weakness, potentially reflecting a continued rotation out of tech stocks.
The Dow may continue to benefit from the shift toward cyclical stocks after jumping to a new record closing high on Friday. The broader S&P 500 also ended the previous session at a new record closing high.
Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, with a lack of major U.S. economic data likely to keep some traders on the sidelines.
The major U.S. stock indexes moved in starkly opposite directions in early trading on Thursday, with the Dow moving sharply higher and the Nasdaq showing a significant pullback.
While the Nasdaq climbed well off its worst levels of the day, the tech-heavy index still closed down 60.30 points or 0.3 percent at 23,593.86
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 rose 14.32 points or 0.2 percent to 6,901.00 and the Dow jumped 646.26 points or 1.3 percent to a new record closing high of 48,704.01.
The surge by the Dow partly reflected a sharp increase by shares of Visa (NYSE:V), with the payment card services company spiking by 6.1 percent after Bank of American upgraded its rating on the stock to Buy from Neutral.
Strong gains by Nike (NYSE:NKE), UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) and American Express (NYSE:AXP) also contributed to the jump by the blue chip index.
On the other hand, a steep drop by shares of Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) weighed on the Nasdaq, as the software giant plunged by 10.8 percent.
The slump by Oracle came after the company reported fiscal second quarter earnings that exceeded analyst estimates but weaker than expected revenues.
Other AI-related stocks like Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) also moved to the downside, potentially reflecting renewed valuation concerns.
On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rebounded by more than expected in the week ended December 6th.
The report said initial jobless claims rose to 236,000, an increase of 44,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 192,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to climb to 220,000 from the 191,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Gold stocks moved sharply higher along with the price of the precious metal, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index spiking by 4.3 percent to a new record closing high.
Substantial strength was also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. The index reached its best closing level in over seventeen years.
Banking and networking stocks also saw notable strength on the day, while oil producer stocks moved to the downside amid a steep drop by the price of crude oil.