Wall St set for mixed start as investors digest Alphabet, Tesla results
WALL Street was on track for a mixed open on Thursday as investors digested uneven earnings from megacaps like Alphabet and Tesla and monitored progress in U.S. trade negotiations.
Alphabet rose 3.4% in premarket after the Google parent raised its 2025 capital spending forecast by $10 billion to $85 billion, shrugging off trade jitters, while electric vehicle maker Tesla tumbled 6.1% as CEO Elon Musk warned of "a few rough quarters" due to cuts in EV incentives.
At 8:43 a.m. ET, S&P 500 E-minis were up 0.5 points, or 0.01%, Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 42 points, or 0.18%, and Dow E-minis were down 292 points, or 0.65%.
UnitedHealth fell 4.5%. The insurer said it is cooperating with the Department of Justice's formal criminal and civil requests following reports of investigations into its Medicare participation.
The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq soared to record closes on Wednesday as investors cheered reports of an imminent trade deal between Washington and the European Union.
Meanwhile, the Dow closed over 1.1% higher, just below its all-time peak.
An EU spokesperson on Thursday signaled that a deal was "within reach", which, as per diplomats, would result in broad 15% import tariffs on the 27-member bloc.
Anticipation of further trade pacts was also reinforced by President Donald Trump's announcement of a deal with Japan on Tuesday, cutting import levies on the Asian country to just 15%. Meanwhile, China and South Korea are racing to strike agreements to dodge Trump's hefty duties.
"A U.S. tariff agreement with Japan has increased market confidence that the worst of the global trade conflict could be over, adding to hopes of a deal with the European Union," said Mark Haefele, chief investment officer, UBS Global Wealth Management.
Among other stocks, American Airlines fell 3.3% after forecasting a bigger-than-expected third-quarter loss, hurt by sluggish domestic travel demand.
IBM slid 6.3% as its second-quarter earnings failed to impress investors, especially due to its lower-than-expected sales in its mainstay software segment.
Honeywell slipped 2.8% despite raising its annual forecasts after beating Wall Street expectations for second-quarter results.
Shares of ServiceNow jumped 7.4% after the software firm raised its annual subscription revenue forecast.
Markets were also monitoring developments after the White House surprised investors that Trump - fresh from stepping up his criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell - would pay a visit to the U.S. central bank's headquarters later in the day.
With the Fed widely expected to keep rates steady at next week's meeting, traders are now eyeing a 62% chance of a September rate cut, according to CME's FedWatch tool.
A Labor Department's report showed jobless claims for the week ended July 18 stood at 217,000 versus an estimate of 235,000, signalling resilience in the job market.
S&P Global's flash PMI data will be released at 9:45 a.m. ET. - Reuters
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