U.S. stock futures were slightly higher in early Friday trading as investors weighed a turbulent day for Nvidia and prepared for a key inflation report. As of about 6:20 a.m. ET, S&P 500 futures were up roughly 0.2%, Dow futures were up about 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures were up about 0.1%, according to Yahoo Finance quote data. Earlier in the morning, Nasdaq futures had traded slightly lower, reports from Stocktwits and TipRanks showed, so the tone remains fragile.
Thursday’s session
Stocks slipped across the board on Thursday. The S&P 500 fell 26.98 points, or 0.35%, to close at 7,592.40, according to the AP. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 189.40 points, or 0.36%, to 52,297.09, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 100.10 points, or 0.39%, to 25,366.09. Smaller companies fared worse: the Russell 2000 fell 47.20 points, or 1.66%, to 2,799.06.
Even with Thursday’s decline, the major indexes are still on pace for weekly gains. The S&P 500 was up about 2.9% for the week through Thursday and the Nasdaq about 3.2%, according to the AP.
Nvidia’s leadership shock
The day’s biggest story was Nvidia, which announced that Jensen Huang had resigned as president, chief executive and board member, effective immediately. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress was named interim CEO, according to the company’s release. The stock initially plunged about 14% before recovering much of the loss, finishing down roughly 4%, according to Yahoo Finance and the AP. Nvidia shares were up close to 3% in premarket trading Friday, per Stocktwits.
Rates and oil add pressure
Bond yields kept climbing. The 10-year Treasury yield reached 5.10% on Thursday, its highest level since October, according to Yahoo Finance, as traders braced for a possible Federal Reserve rate hike in December. Oil also jumped: U.S. crude settled at $88.74 a barrel, up 2.6%, after President Trump said the U.S. no longer needs a deal with Iran, according to Bloomberg via Rigzone.
What to watch today
- Producer Price Index (8:30 a.m. ET): Economists expect October wholesale prices to rise 0.4% from September, with core prices up 0.3%, according to a Dow Jones consensus cited by StockTitan. September’s headline reading jumped 1.3%.
- Cisco and Applied Materials: Both reported quarterly results after Thursday’s close. Cisco was lower in premarket trading despite beating estimates, while Applied Materials edged higher, according to Stocktwits.
- Microsoft: Shares were down about 2.5% before the bell after outages hit Outlook, Teams and Copilot on Thursday, Stocktwits reported.
A hotter-than-expected PPI reading would add to the case for a December rate hike, which futures markets already treat as highly likely. Next week brings October retail sales on Tuesday and Nvidia’s earnings report that same afternoon, making it one of the busiest stretches of the quarter for investors.
