DOW JONES futures fell 0.14% to 32,808 points, while S&P 500 futures were up 0.67% to 4,153 points. The NASDAQ 100 futures rose 1.83% to 13,899 points.
These moves come after a new day of decline, the fourth in a row, for the main New York indices yesterday Wednesday: the Dow Jones fell 255.59 points, or 0.77%. The S&P 500 ended the day down 0.73%, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.61%.
Debt ceiling negotiations continue to weigh on the market as the June 1 deadline is virtually upon us and no agreement has yet been reached between Republicans and Democrats. “We’re playing this political game that leads to the fringes,” Bob Diamond, CEO of Atlas Merchant Capital, told CNBC. “I think there’s no question that defaulting on the dollar, on Treasuries, on our brand and on our reputation would be a horrible, horrible, horrible decision. I think the likelihood of that happening is extremely slim.”
waiting for events The rating agency Fitch rates the credit rating of the USA as “negative” at “AAA” and cites the partisan approach of US politicians in connection with the raising of the debt ceiling as the main reason for their decision.. “This first, and possibly not the last, ‘wake-up call’ to the US from a credit agency should give US politicians of both parties food for thought,” says Link Gestión’s Juan J. Fernández-Figares.
Beyond these negotiations, investors today also need to consider that just before the bell rang Q1 GDP data comes in at 1.3% yoy growth, ahead of the 1.1% the market was expecting, although it represents a notable slowdown compared to the 2.6% seen in the last quarter of 2022. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims data showed a figure of 229,000 this week, compared to 225,000 the previous week.
In the course of the morning, the number of houses for sale for April will also be published.
The big protagonist of the day on Wall Street is NVIDIA, up more than 30% in the pre-opening. The company, one of the big beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence boom, has issued higher-than-expected sales guidance for its fiscal second quarter, after also beating market expectations in the most recent quarter. The company reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.09 (vs. 92 cents expected) while revenue was $7.19 billion (vs. $6.52 billion expected).
Nvidia expects revenue of about $11 billion for the current quarter, up/down 2%, more than 50% above Wall Street’s estimate of $7.15 billion.. The company’s shares have more than doubled this year, largely due to optimism derived from its leadership position in the artificial intelligence chip market. CEO Jensen Huang says the company is seeing “increased demand” for its data center products.
On the other hand, Snowflake shares plunged more than 10%. The cloud computing company issued a weaker-than-expected product revenue forecast for the second quarter and moved up to second place as it beat analysts’ expectations for first-quarter earnings and revenue.
American Eagle Outfitters also posted a sharp drop of nearly 15% after the company said it expects second-quarter sales to fall in the low-single digits, rather than a 1.6% rise analysts had expected. The clothing retailer had a mixed quarter, with earnings per share in line with estimates while revenue beat expectations.
For earnings season, retailers Best Buy, Dollar Tree and Ralph Lauren are due to report results today.
In commodity markets, oil prices fell during Thursday’s session. U.S. West Texas crude futures fell 0.72% to $73.30 a barrel, while benchmark European Brent crude fell 0.51% to $77.39 a barrel.
In fixed income, bond yields are rising due to uncertainty about the debt ceiling. The 10-year note offers a yield of 3.763%, up four percentage points. The yield on the two-year bond rose seven points to 4.419%.