U.S. stock futures were mixed on Thursday, as the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 indices diverged, following Wednesday's higher close. The split tells a pretty clear story: something big happened to one very large company, and the rest of the market is mostly shrugging.
That something is Nvidia. More on that in a moment.
First, the geopolitical backdrop got louder. Iranian Security Chief Mohsen Rezaee warned on X that if there is "another war against Iran," U.S. military bases "from West Asia to Europe" would be targets, adding, "NO SAFE DISTANCE. NO SAFE HAVEN. NO IMMUNITY."
Iran's Parliament Speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in an Al Jazeera interview that the Strait of Hormuz would "never return" to its pre-war status and argued that maritime regulations fall under Iranian and Omani laws rather than international rules. Reuters reported that Iran attacked navigation infrastructure on Oman's Didamar island, and Reuters also reported 37 vessel attacks in October.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.99%, and the 2-year Treasury bond yielded 4.76%, at the last check. The CME Group's FedWatch tool projections show markets pricing in a 92.8% likelihood of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates after its December meeting. Yes, hiking. That's the world we're living in.
| Index | Performance (+/-) |
|---|
| Dow Jones | 0.02% |
| S&P 500 | -0.41% |
| Nasdaq 100 | -0.87% |
| Russell 2000 | -0.11% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY), the Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ: QQQ) and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE: DIA), which track the S&P 500 index, Nasdaq 100 index and Dow Jones Industrial Average, respectively, were mixed in premarket trading on Thursday. The SPY was down 0.39% at $756.84, the QQQ declined 0.78% to $684.99, and the DIA rose 0.02% to $524.55.
Tetra Tech
- Tetra Tech Inc. (NASDAQ: TTEK) was 8.42% higher in premarket on Thursday after it reported fourth-quarter 2026 earnings of $0.49 on revenue of $1.34 billion, beating estimates.
- MarketDash's Edge Stock Rankings indicate that TTEK maintains a positive price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a strong momentum score.
Franco-Nevada
- Franco-Nevada Corp. (NYSE: FNV) was 0.14% lower in premarket trading on Thursday after it reported third-quarter 2026 earnings of $1.89 on revenue of $549.30 million.
- MarketDash's Edge Stock Rankings indicate that FNV maintains a positive price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a strong growth score.
CoreWeave
- CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWV) was 5.54% lower in premarket on Thursday following its earnings-led jump of about 25% on Wednesday. Reuters reported last week that voter opposition to data center development across 10 states backed restrictions or rejected proposals to develop data centers in their communities.
- MarketDash's Edge Stock Rankings indicate that CRWV maintains a negative price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor momentum score.
Cisco Systems
- Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) was 0.74% lower in premarket on Thursday as analysts expect first-quarter 2027 earnings of $1.33 per share on revenue of $18.12 billion after the closing bell.
- MarketDash's Edge Stock Rankings indicate that CSCO maintains a negative price trend in the short and medium terms but a positive trend in the long term, with a poor value score.
Cues From Last Session
U.S. stocks closed higher on Wednesday, with information technology, energy, and industrials leading and consumer discretionary lagging. The Dow gained over 200 points.
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
|---|
| Dow Jones | 0.49% | 52,486.49 |
| S&P 500 | 1.31% | 7,619.38 |
| Nasdaq Composite | 1.60% | 25,466.19 |
| Russell 2000 | 0.88% | 2,846.26 |
Insights From Analysts
BlackRock Investment Institute said the Democratic sweep in the U.S. midterms and its 2027 Outlook Forum reinforced that the AI story is shifting from buildout to demand, adoption and who benefits as competition for capital intensifies. It said the supply-driven regime it has described for five years is largely priced in, making the outlook "less directional and more nuanced," and warned that "A material slowdown in 2027, though far from certain, could have significant adverse market consequences."
The institute also said the uncertainty is two-sided, noting it could "ease competition for capital and lower bond yields," and that this backdrop "underpinned our move to neutral on U.S. equities and our upgrade of U.S. Treasuries last month." It added that participants debated whether AI financing needs could crowd out other borrowers and whether greater equity issuance could help hyperscalers manage leverage as the buildout continues.
Upcoming Economic Data
Here's what investors will be keeping an eye on Thursday.
- Initial Jobless Claims data will be released by 8:30 a.m. ET.
- Existing Home Sales (MoM) data will be released by 10:00 a.m. ET.
- Fed's Michael Barr will speak at 10:00 a.m. ET and Austan Goolsbee will speak at 11:30 a.m. ET.
- Crude Oil Inventories and Cushing Crude Oil Inventories data will be released by 12:00 p.m. ET. Fed's Mary Daly will speak at 1:10 p.m. ET.
- Federal Budget Balance data will be released by 2:00 p.m. ET and John Williams will speak at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Commodities, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets
Crude Oil WTI futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 0.15% to hover around $86.40 per barrel, meanwhile, Brent futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 0.11% to hover around $92.86 per barrel.
Gold Spot US Dollar fell 1.06% to hover around $3,936.24 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.01% higher at the 102.8873 level.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 0.70% lower at $73,413 per coin, over the last 24 hours.
Asian markets were lower on Thursday, as Australia's ASX 200, India's Nifty 50, South Korea's Kospi, China's CSI 300, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, and Japan's Nikkei 225 indices fell. European markets were higher in early trading.
