As investors processed the diminishing inflation pressures from the most recent report on consumer prices, which could help establish expectations for the course of interest rates, US stock futures increased slightly on Thursday, hoping to recoup from Wall Street's tech-fueled sell-off.
S&P 500 futures (ES=F) increased by about 0.5%, while Nasdaq 100 futures (NQ=F) increased by 0.8% in an attempt to recover from Oracle (ORCL)-driven AI trade concerns that sparked yet another brutal tech session. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) increased by 0.2% in the meantime.
Following Thursday's lower-than-expected Consumer Price Index report, which revealed inflation increased 2.7% in November compared to the previous year and 2.6% on a "core" basis, stocks saw little movement.
Similar to Tuesday's monthly jobs report, experts have pointed out that the US government shutdown may make the inflation statistics less trustworthy than usual.
For starters, the report, which was supposed to be released on December 10, lacked month-to-month comparisons due to the October disruption in CPI data collecting.
However, the Federal Reserve appears to be more concerned with labor market fissures than with pricing pressures. Before the CPI data was released on Wednesday, Fed Governor Chris Waller expressed support for rate reductions.
In light of all of this, markets are perceived as not being as fixated on the inflation report as they typically are. Regarding employment, investors will receive the most recent weekly update on initial jobless claims; but, since the federal shutdown, this data has also experienced considerable volatility.
Oracle lost important support for a $10 billion data center project, sending its shares plummeting on Wednesday along with major names like Nvidia (NVDA) and Broadcom (AVGO), among others. Meanwhile, Wall Street is watching for fresh indications of the tech malaise.
Micron Technology (MU), a supplier of Nvidia (NVDA), said that its adjusted profit for the upcoming quarter would be almost twice as high as analysts had predicted. Micron Technology's (MU) earnings late on Wednesday revealed a more optimistic picture for AI demand. In premarket trade, shares surged.
In business, Tae Technologies, a fusion power firm supported by Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) and Chevron (CVX), and Trump Media & Technology firm (DJT, DJTWW) reached a $6 billion merger.
As a wager on AI-driven energy demand, shares of Trump Media, the company that runs the Truth Social platform, shot up following the news.
