US Stocks Likely To Open Lower: 'Look Through Near-Term Noise, Be Deliberate About The Kinds Of Risk You're Taking, Leverage AI,' Say Experts
U.S. stock futures were trading lower on Thursday after closing lower on Wednesday. Futures of major benchmark indices declined in premarket.
President Donald Trump announced that a new trade agreement with China had been reached, pending final signatures from him and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated that the Trump administration might extend the current 90-day tariff pause past July 9 for the United States’ major trading partners, provided these partners demonstrate “good faith” in their ongoing trade talks.
The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.39% and the two-year bond was at 3.92%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 99.8% likelihood of the Federal Reserve keeping the current interest rates unchanged in its June meeting.
| Futures | Change (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | -0.55% |
| S&P 500 | -0.32% |
| Nasdaq 100 | -0.23% |
| Russell 2000 | 0.69% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, were lower in premarket on Thursday. The SPY was down 0.33% at $599.36, while the QQQ declined 0.27% to $530.99, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Cues From Last Session:
U.S. stocks mostly settled lower on Wednesday, but the energy and utilities stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session higher.
Materials, communication services, and consumer discretionary stocks recorded the biggest losses. This occurred amid signs of progress in U.S.-China trade negotiations and cooler-than-expected inflation data.
On the economic front, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that annual consumer inflation rose to 2.4% in May, slightly below the 2.5% forecast.
Core inflation held steady at 2.8%, also coming in softer than expected.
Shares of Chewy Inc. (NYSE:CHWY) fell 11% after the company reported first-quarter financial results and issued FY25 sales guidance below estimates.
The Dow Jones index ended one point or 0.0026% lower at 42,865.77, whereas the S&P 500 index fell 0.27% to 6,022.24. Nasdaq Composite declined 0.50% to 19,615.88, and the small-cap gauge, Russell 2000, tumbled 0.38% to end at 2,148.23.
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Nasdaq Composite | -0.50% | 19,615.88 |
| S&P 500 | -0.27% | 6,022.24 |
| Dow Jones | -0.0026% | 42,865.77 |
| Russell 2000 | -0.38% | 2,148.23 |
Insights From Analysts:
Analysts at BlackRock detailed their insights on the stock market during their Midyear Forum.
According to its note, their takeaways were “look through near-term noise; be deliberate about the kinds of risk you're taking; leverage AI; and watch for biases.”
BlackRock reiterated focusing on the big picture. For all the ups and downs in markets since the start of the year, they agreed that the drivers of the best-performing companies' equity gains have not changed much.
“Our portfolio managers discussed several other techniques for spotting opportunities. They are leveraging AI to discern the signal from the noise, as well as tracking patterns and sentiment shifts in their own discussions. They also discussed the importance of being aware of and managing behavioral biases, recognizing that people are less likely to take risk when uncertainty is higher,” the note added.
Meanwhile, after a better-than-expected May inflation print, Ed Yardeni said that “Trump’s tariffs might not be as inflationary as feared. In other words, the widely anticipated stagflation scenario remains a no-show.”
However, the chief economist at LPL Financial, Jeffrey Roach, said, "Surprisingly, new and used vehicle prices declined in May, despite many expecting an increase in prices from tariffs."
According to him, prices for apparel and autos, "both highly sensitive to trade conditions, declined in May." Apparel prices also declined in April, indicating that these companies likely "absorbed tariff costs."
"But don’t expect that to continue," he added.
See Also: How to Trade Futures
Upcoming Economic Data
Here’s what investors will keep an eye on Thursday:
- The initial jobless claims data for the week ended June 7 and the headline and core producer price index data for May will be released by 8:30 a.m. ET.
Stocks In Focus:
- America’s CAR-MART Inc. (NASDAQ:CRMT) was up 2.01% in premarket on Thursday as analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of 96 cents per share on revenue of $351.85 million, before the opening bell.
- Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) rose 0.28% ahead of its earnings, which are supposed to be released after the closing bell. Analysts expect earnings of $4.96 per share on revenue of $5.79 billion.
- RH (NYSE:RH) fell 0.55% as analysts expect it to report a quarterly loss of 9 cents per share on revenue of $818.12 million after the closing bell.
- Lovesac Co. (NASDAQ:LOVE) advanced 3.07% ahead of its earnings, which are supposed to be released before the opening bell. Analysts expect a quarterly loss of 71 cents per share, on revenue of $137.47 million.
- Oxford Industries Inc. (NYSE:OXM) dropped 9.05% after reporting in-line earnings for the first quarter and issuing second-quarter earnings guidance below estimates. Also, the company lowered its FY25 guidance.
- Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) jumped 7.61% after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and issuing upbeat outlook commentary.
- Intensity Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:INTS) slumped 47.84% after announcing a proposed public offering of its common stock.
Commodities, Gold, And Global Equity Markets:
Crude oil futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 1.41% to hover around $67.19 per barrel.
Gold Spot US Dollar rose 0.15% to hover around $3,360.25 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $3,500.33 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was lower by 0.52% at the 98.1210 level.
Asian markets ended lower on Thursday except South Korea's Kospi index. China’s CSI 300, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, Australia's ASX 200, Japan's Nikkei 225, and India's S&P BSE Sensex indices fell. European markets were lower in early trade.
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