A strategist said a possible catalyst for any renewed volatility is difficult to predict, although it could stem from geopolitical developments, macroeconomic surprises, policy shifts, or even technical factors within the market itself.
U.S. stock futures strengthened early Thursday, despite a tariff threat looming large. President Donald Trump confirmed by midnight that the new rates communicated via the July 31 executive order have begun to take effect.
Apple’s confirmation of a $100 billion incremental U.S. manufacturing investment has buoyed sentiment, with the shares of the tech giant, as well as its supply chain partners, which are set to benefit from the investment, advancing in the overnight session.
As of 3:50 a.m. ET on Thursday, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 futures climbed over 0.30% and the Russell 2000 futures rose 0.20%, while the Dow futures edged up about 0.10%.
Stocks rallied on Wednesday, led by consumer and IT stocks as readers savored Apple’s investment. On the other hand, material, energy, and healthcare stocks came under selling pressure.
The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the Nasdaq 100 Index, surged up 1.26% and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) jumped 0.77%. The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) rose a more modest 0.19%, while the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) fell 0.13%.
Among the Main Street catalysts are the weekly jobless claims report, the advance second-quarter third-quarter productivity and costs report, the Commerce Department’s wholesale inventories report, and the June consumer credit report.
Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic is scheduled to speak at 10 a.m. ET.
Becton Dickinson (BDX), ConocoPhillips (COP), Constellation Energy (CEG), Datadog (DDOG), Crocs (CROX), Eli Lilly (LLY), Hertz Global (HTZ), Kenvue (KVUE), Krispy Kreme (DNUT), Papa John’s (PZZA), PENN Entertainment (PENN), Peloton (PTON), U.S. Foods (USFD), Vitaris (VTRS), Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), Warner Music Group (WMG), Atlassian (TEAM), CarGurus (CARG), Pinterest (PINS), Take-Two (TTWO), Trade Desk (TTD), TripAdvisor (TRIP) and Twilio (TWLO) are among the notable companies due to release their quarterly reports on Thursday.
Kristian Kerr, Head of Macro Strategy for LPL Financial, warned investors of a potential uptick in volatility. The strategist noted that volatility was now at depressed levels as the markets enter the seasonally challenging August-to-October window, a period historically associated with heightened uncertainty.
“The possible catalyst for any renewed volatility is difficult to predict. It could stem from geopolitical developments, macroeconomic surprises, policy shifts, or even technical factors within the market itself.” Kerr said.
Crude oil futures rebounded from Wednesday’s decline and traded moderately higher early Thursday, and gold futures pushed past the $3,460 level. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield rose further.
The U.S. dollar retreated across the board. Most major Asian markets advanced, defying the Trump tariffs. The Indian and Australian markets, however, bucked the uptrend.
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