Wall Street Futures Narrowly Mixed As Uncertainty Looms Ahead Of Jobless Claims Data, VIX Pulls Back: Analysts See Near-Term Weakness, But Calls For Post-Election Bump

Wall Street’s mood may continue to be jittery, with the index futures trading narrowly mixed in early trading. The uncertainty ahead of Friday’s non-farm payrolls report has proved to be the dampener much of the week. The weekly jobless claims and a duo of service sector readings due for the day could nudge the major indices in either of the directions depending on how they pan out.

Companies with exposure to artificial technology could come under pressure amid negative reactions to earnings from C3.ai, Inc. AI. Nvidia Corp. NVDA, though, is modestly higher. Crude oil futures rebounded and gold futures are also firmer. The CBOE Volatility Index, aka VIX, is settling down after its recent spike. Traders may also prefer to keep an eye on the bond yields amid rising recession worries.

Futures	Performance (+/-)
Nasdaq 100	-0.06%
S&P 500	+0.04%
Dow	+0.09%
R2K	-0.06%

In premarket trading on Thursday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY rose 0.03% to $551.10 and the Invesco QQQ ETF QQQ edged down 0.07% to $460.31, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Cues From Last Session:

U.S. stocks closed Wednesday on a mixed note as economic worries countered any upward bounce generated by bargain hunting that followed the recent declines. Stocks started off on a notably weaker note after the July job openings came in at the lowest since early 2021. The major averages cut their losses and moved higher in late-morning trading before reversing course and languishing in the red for much of the remainder of the session.

A late-session buying surge lifted the Dow Industrials into positive territory, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite indices closed modestly lower, but off the lows of the session.

Energy stocks fell by the most, and communication services and IT stocks also declined, while consumer staples, real estate and utility stocks gained ground.

Index	Performance (+/)	Value
Nasdaq Composite	-0.30%	17,084.30
S&P 500 Index	-0.16%	5,520.07
Dow Industrials	+0.09%	40,974.97
Russell 2000	-0.19%	2,145.22

Insights From Analysts:

Amid the fluid market condition, a fund manager is upbeat about the equity market performance. “September is off to a tough start, and uncertainty may remain high until the reaction to the Fed cut is in the bank,” said Louis Navellier, adding that, “history says that any month that starts with a +1% correction is higher by the end of the month, and no one would be surprised to see that, especially with the Fed cuts motivating all the cash on the sidelines to find a new home.”

 LPL Financial Portfolio Strategist George Smith also commented on the September seasonality, stating it is not favorable to stocks with poor performance typically backloaded. That said the strategist sees some mitigating factors, including the interest rate trajectory. He noted that the September Federal Open Market Committee meeting takes place right at the start of the historically weak period for stocks in September.

“We don't rule out the possibility of short-term weakness as markets could readjust having gotten slightly over their skis on the pace and number of rate cuts that the Fed will deliver,” Smith said. “Scanning out further, both post-election and fourth-quarter seasonality become more favorable stocks,” he added.

Upcoming Economic Data:

• The Labor Department’s weekly jobless claims data due at 8:30 a.m. EDT will likely show that the number of individuals claiming unemployment benefits has dipped from 231,000 in the week ended Aug. 24 to 225,000 in the week ended Aug. 31.
• The Labor Department’s revised second-quarter non-farm productivity and costs report is scheduled to be released, also at 8:30 a.m. EDT. The final second-quarter non-farm productivity growth is expected to be revised from a seasonally adjusted annualized quarter-over-quarter pace of 2.3% to 2.5%, up from 0.2% in the first quarter. Unit labor costs may have increased by 0.8% compared to the 0.9% preliminary estimate and a 4% increase in the first quarter.
• S&P Global will release its final service sector purchasing managers’ index at 9:45 a.m. EDT. The consensus estimate calls for a reading of 55.1 for August, slightly lower than the flash estimate of 55.2, but from July’s 55.
• The Institute for Supply Management is due to release its non-manufacturing PMI at 10 a.m. EDT. The non-manufacturing PMI, based on a nationwide survey, is expected at 51 compared to the July reading of 51.4.
• The Energy Information Administration will release its weekly petroleum status report at 11 p.m. EDT.
• The Treasury will auction four- and eight-week bills at 11 p.m. EDT.

See also: Best Futures Trading Software

Stocks In Focus:

• C3.ai plunged over 20% in premarket trading on the company’s quarterly results, and ChargePoint Holdings, Inc. CHPT fell over 8% and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company HPE moved down a more modest 2.66%.
• NIO Inc. NIO, Science Applications International Corporation SAIC and Shoe Carnival, Inc. SCVL are among the companies reporting quarterly results ahead of the market opening.
• Those reporting after the close include Broadcom Inc. AVGO, DocuSign, Inc. DOCU, Smartsheet Inc. SMAR, Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. SWBI, Ubiquiti Inc. UI and Zumiez Inc. ZUMZ.

Commodities, Bonds And Global Equity Markets

Crude oil futures rebounded on Thursday and yet traded below $70-a-barrel and gold futures advanced. Bitcoin BTC/USD rose modestly toward the $57K level. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note remained unchanged at 3.768%. The yield curve, which represents the relationship between the 10- and 2-year Treasury yield, briefly reversed due to rising expectations of rate cuts, and the dis-inversion typically happens at the start of the resurrection.

The Asian markets had a mixed outing on Thursday, as the yen’s continued strength exerted downward pressure on the Japanese markets, while some major markets in the region took encouragement from Wall Street closing off the lows of the session.

European stocks traded mostly lower in early trading.

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