United States stock futures traded slightly lower on Wednesday night (Thursday AEST), as investors shifted focus to a wave of corporate earnings and key inflation readings.
The subdued moves followed a rally in the regular session after President Donald Trump denied he was preparing to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
By 8:50 am AEST (10:50 pm GMT), futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 were each down 0.2%.
In after-hours trading, United Airlines shares fell 1.9% after the airline reported second-quarter revenue of US$15.24 billion, missing expectations of $15.36 billion. However, earnings per share (EPS) came in at $3.87, above the $3.81 expected.
Alcoa gained nearly 2% after reporting adjusted EPS of $0.39 on $3.02 billion in revenue, topping estimates of $0.31 and $2.9 billion, respectively.
Monarch Casino & Resort surged 16.2% after second-quarter EPS was reported at $1.44, beating the $1.20 expected and up 21% from a year ago. Revenue came in at $136.9 million versus $129.83 billion expected, rising nearly 7% year-over-year.
Sarepta Therapeutics soared 33% following the announcement of a “strategic restructuring” that includes a 36% workforce reduction - roughly 500 employees - with the company expecting $400 million in annual cost savings.
During Wednesday’s regular trading session, the Dow climbed 0.5%, the S&P 500 rose 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.3% to close at a new record high.
Markets had been rattled earlier in the day after a White House official told Republican lawmakers that Trump is likely to dismiss Powell, however, sentiment recovered after Trump clarified that he was not planning on doing it.
Elsewhere, fresh inflation data helped bolster confidence. June’s producer price index (PPI) came in flat month-over-month (0.0%), bringing the annual rate down to 2.3% from 2.7%, below the 2.5% forecast.
ANZ analysts said: “Encouragingly, there is no evidence that goods prices are spilling over into services. Service prices fell 0.1% m/m and are unchanged over the past three months. That suggests tariffs are not driving a broader rise in PPI inflation and supports our assessment that the impacts of tariffs are likely to prove transitory.”
Looking ahead, investor attention remains focused on upcoming earnings, which are expected to be the key driver of market direction in the short term.
Major names scheduled to report before Thursday’s opening bell include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Travelers, GE Aerospace, U.S. Bancorp, and Citizens Financial Group.
Traders will also be watching closely for Thursday’s batch of economic data, including weekly jobless claims, June retail sales, and export and import price indexes.
