Stock market news live updates: Stock futures point to a slightly lower open
Stock futures edged lower Thursday morning, drifting below record levels.
Contracts on the Dow fell more than 150 points, or 0.5%. The Nasdaq appeared poised to underperform for another session, with futures falling nearly 1%. Equity futures extended declines after a new report showed weekly jobless claims unexpectedly jumped to a one-month higher last week, as the U.S. labor market recovery stagnated.
A day earlier, the Dow ended at a fresh record closing high, as cyclical stocks including energy and consumer discretionary names extended their recent run of outperformance as hopes for a strong economic recovery lingered. Tech shares lagged, and the Nasdaq fell 0.6% for its worst session so far in February. And while Treasury yields ticked lower, the benchmark 10-year yield hovered just a tick below the one-year high of about 1.31% it reached after a rapid run-up earlier this week.
New jobless claims data aside, an increasing number of economic and earnings data have pointed to a strong recovery coming out of the pandemic, even with the national vaccination program still under way. Retail sales surged by the most in seven months in January, handily exceeding expectations as government stimulus lifted consumer spending at the start of the year. And on the monetary policy side, the Federal Reserve's latest meeting minutes suggested the central bank would maintain its aggressive asset purchase program and low interest rate policies to support the economy coming out of the pandemic.
"What has happened is that these cyclical rotations continue to be supported by, obviously the stimulus program that put the consumer at the front end of what may come down the road," Omar Aguilar, Charles Schwab investment manager, told Yahoo Finance. "And therefore it’s not surprising that you actually see higher yields in Treasuries, and you actually see risky assets being in high demand."
Though stocks reacted mutedly to the latest set of positive headlines including the retail sales report, the flurry of better-than-expected data has helped keep a floor under risk assets, some strategists noted.
"We’ve seen a two steps forward, one step back approach. Which means that the market trends higher and higher, we see a pause, we see a very brief pullback, and then the market takes a leg up again. I think we’re going to continue to see that, because there’s some positive news and positive headlines that we’re either sitting on or are in the midst of right now," Jonathan Corpina, Meridian Equity Partners senior managing partner, told Yahoo Finance. "We’re talking about vaccination program roll-out – we’re seeing that each day, it’s getting much more successful. You see the retail numbers like today, that ties into stimulus. Stimulus money is going in the right direction. Earnings expectations have been tepid so far, and I think that’s widely accepted by markets, and that’s viewed as good news."
Thursday morning, Walmart (WMT) posted fourth-quarter earnings that trailed estimates, though e-commerce and overall sales grew strongly. Thursday afternoon, companies including Planet Fitness (PLNT) and Roku (ROKU) are poised to report quarterly results, rounding out what has so far been a steady stream of better-than-expected fourth-quarter reports despite the ongoing pandemic.
Elsewhere, the House Financial Services Committee is set to hold a hearing at noon eastern on Thursday over recent market volatility involving GameStop and other heavily shorted stocks. Individuals including Vlad Tenev, CEO of the popular online brokerage firm Robinhood, as well as Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin and Reddit co-founder Steve Huffman are poised to testify in the hearing.
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8:30 a.m. ET: Jobless claims unexpectedly jumped to a one-month high last week
Initial unemployment claims unexpectedly rose for back-to-back weeks, jumping above 800,000 yet again to a one-month high.
Weekly new claims for the week ended February 13 totaled 861,000. This was significantly higher than the 773,000 expected, and also rose from the prior week's upwardly revised level of 848,000.
Continuing jobless claims ticked down slightly to 4.494 million, though this was still higher than the 4.425 million expected for the week ended February 6. The prior week's continuing claims were revised up to 4.558 million, from the 4.545 million reported earlier.
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7:54 a.m. ET: Walmart shares slide after earnings miss estimates, guidance points to slowing growth
Shares of Walmart (WMT) dipped 5% in pre-market trading after the retail giant posted a mixed fourth-quarter report, with sales topping estimates but earnings and guidance missing the mark.
Fourth-quarter revenue grew 7.3% to $152.08 billion, handily topping estimates for $148.38 billion, according to Bloomberg consensus data. Comparable same-store sales, a closely watched metric for efficiency at retailers, grew 8.9%, sharply accelerating from the 1.8% growth rate from the same quarter in 2019. However, fourth-quarter adjusted earnings were $1.39 per share, below estimates for $1.50.
Looking ahead, Walmart said it expected comparable sales growth would be only in the "low single-digits" for its flagship stores, pulling back from 2020's surging pace. The company also noted that more costs would be coming down the line, and said fiscal year 2022 capital expenditures would total nearly $14 billion as it builds out supply chain capacity, automation and works to improve its customer experience. It also plans to invest in wages to raise the average associate wage to more than $15 per hour in the U.S.
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7:18 a.m. ET Thursday: Stock futures point to a lower open
Here’s where markets were trading ahead of the opening bell:
S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,913.25, down 14.75 points or 0.38%
Dow futures (YM=F): 31,470.00, down 79 points or 0.25%
Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 13,602.5, down 97.25 points or 0.71%
Crude (CL=F): +$0.26 (+0.43%) to $61.40 a barrel
Gold (GC=F): +$9.70 (+0.55%) to $1,782.50 per ounce
10-year Treasury (^TNX): -0.7 bps to yield 1.292%
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6:05 p.m. ET Wednesday: Stock futures trade flat
Here’s where markets were trading Wednesday evening as the overnight session kicked off:
S&P 500 futures (ES=F): 3,927.25, down 0.75 points or 0.02%
Dow futures (YM=F): 31,556.00, up 7 points or 0.02%
Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): 13,701.5, up 1.75 points or 0.01%
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Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter: @emily_mcck
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