S&P 500 and Dow futures inched higher Wednesday on hopes of a Middle East peace breakthrough, while Nasdaq futures lagged after strong forecasts from SpaceX and Advanced Micro Devices failed to impress investors. SpaceX shares slid 10% and AMD fell 8.1% even as both posted upbeat outlooks, while traders also weighed Fed comments on rates ahead of Friday's jobs report.
S&P 500 and Dow futures edged higher Wednesday on hopes of a Middle East peace breakthrough, while Nasdaq futures lagged after strong forecasts from SpaceX and Advanced Micro Devices failed to impress investors. At 05:06 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 116 points, or 0.21%. S&P 500 E-minis added 19.75 points, or 0.25%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis fell 20.5 points, or 0.07%.
Chip stocks drag on AMD and SpaceX results
SpaceX's revenue nearly doubled and its operating losses narrowed in its first earnings report since going public, driven by its Starlink satellite business and its AI operations. Yet the rocket company's shares slid 10% in premarket trading after executives said the spending behind those ambitions is far from over, and the stock also faces the expiry of its post-IPO lock-up period starting Thursday. Tesla, another Elon Musk-led company, slipped 0.8%.
Advanced Micro Devices forecast quarterly revenue above estimates on strong AI demand, but its shares fell 8.1% as investors sought a stronger outlook to justify the stock's 142% jump this year. Rival Nvidia rose 1.9%, helped by SpaceX's plan to use Nvidia hardware exclusively to build its data centers. Intel and Micron each lost 1.5%, while Microsoft and Alphabet held steady as the market paused after a rally that carried the S&P 500 and Dow to record highs.
Fed policymakers keep rate-hike bets alive
Middle East tensions are keeping energy costs elevated, and the Federal Reserve has offered no forecast on monetary policy, leaving investors uncertain about the path for interest rates. Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid, a non-voting FOMC member, said Tuesday that some monetary tightening is needed to get inflation back to the 2% target.
Traders are pricing in a 58.4% chance of a rate hike in September, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool. Remarks due from Fed Governor Lisa Cook and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly will be watched for further clues.
Jobs data looms before Friday payrolls
Investors are also awaiting a private national employment survey due at 8:15 a.m. ET, which could offer clues on how the jobs market fared in July ahead of Friday's official non-farm payrolls figures. A survey on services-sector activity for the previous month is also due at 10 a.m. ET.
Verizon and AT&T each shed more than 2%, and T-Mobile slipped 0.8%, after SpaceX revealed plans to build a full-fledged mobile service. Results from Uber, Eli Lilly, Honeywell and Kraft Heinz are due before markets open.
Source: Investing.com
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