United States stock futures were mixed on Tuesday night (Wednesday AEST) as investors looked ahead to fresh inflation data, while Oracle’s upbeat outlook sparked enthusiasm in AI-related trades.
By 9:10 am AEST (11:10 pm GMT) Dow futures slipped 0.1%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%, while Nasdaq 100 futures edged up 0.1%.
In extended trading, Oracle shares surged 23% after the company reported that multicloud database revenue from Amazon, Google and Microsoft grew at an eye-catching 1,529% in the latest quarter.
The jump came despite fiscal first-quarter earnings and revenue falling short of market expectations, with earnings per share (EPS) reported at $1.47 versus $1.48 expected on revenue of $14.93 billion versus $15.04 billion expected.
“We signed four multi-billion-dollar contracts with three different customers in Q1,” Oracle CEO Safra Catz said. “It was an astonishing quarter — and demand for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure continues to build.”
Elsewhere in after-hours moves, GameStop gained 5.3% after posting second-quarter EPS of $0.25 on revenue of $972.2 million. above EPS expectations of $0.19 on revenues of $900 million.
AeroVironment traded 4.2% higher after mixed fiscal first-quarter results: adjusted EPS of $0.32 came in slightly below the $0.33 forecast, while revenue of $454.7 million exceeded expectations of $437.6 million.
Synopsys tumbled 18.6% after disappointing results for its fiscal third quarter, reporting EPS of $3.39 on revenue of $1.74 billion, below consensus estimates of $3.80 per share on $1.77 billion.
Earlier in the day, Wall Street’s main indexes closed at record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.4%, the S&P 500 gained 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.4%.
Economic concerns persisted after the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ preliminary national benchmark revision showed 911,000 fewer jobs were created in the year through March 2025.
Analysts at ANZ highlighted the significance of the data, noting: "The preliminary revisions to nonfarm payrolls signals a meaningful hiring slowdown. The revisions imply that job growth was roughly half what was previously estimated.
"The revisions come on top of a slowdown in job creation, with the latest three-month average of job growth slowing to 29k/month. The data support the assessment that the labour market is slowing and they have solidified expectations of a rate cut at the Fed’s upcoming meeting."
Markets now turn their focus to the August producer price index, followed by the consumer price index.
Markets expect both headline and core readings to rise 0.3% month-on-month.
If realised, the annual headline CPI rate would increase to 2.9%, while core inflation would hold steady at 3.1%.
