Investing.com-- U.S. stock index futures slipped lower Thursday, continuing to weaken after disappointing earnings from heavyweight technology stocks hit sentiment.
At 06:45 ET (10:45 GMT), Dow Jones Futures fell 34 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 Futures dropped 11 points, or 0.2%, and Nasdaq 100 Futures slumped 75 points, or 0.4%.
The main indices closed sharply lower Wednesday, driven by poorly received earnings from tech giants Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA).
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 500 points, or 1.3%, while the S&P 500 dropped 2.3% and the NASDAQ Composite plummeted 3.6%, the worst session since 2022.
The losses are less severe Thursday, but sentiment remains fragile, with uncertainty over the presidential race and an upcoming Federal Reserve meeting also keeping investors cautious.
The tech sector was already nursing steep losses, as the sector saw heavy profit-taking after hype over AI drove a major melt-up in valuation over the past year. Expectations of lower interest rates- on which the Fed is set to provide more cues next week- also sparked a rotation into more economically sensitive sectors.
Chipotle, IBM advance on strong Q2; Ford slumps
There will be more earnings to digest Thursday, from the likes of American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL), Honeywell (NASDAQ:HON) and Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS).
More than 25% of companies in the S&P 500 have reported their second-quarter earnings, according to FactSet data, and although some major tech stocks have disappointed, the overall nature of the earnings session has been generally positive.
Elsewhere, Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) rose 3.5% premarket after clocking stronger-than-expected earnings for the second quarter. The fast casual Mexican restaurant chain logged strong comparable restaurant sales in the quarter.
IBM (NYSE:IBM) rose 4% after increased interest in AI helped the tech consulting firm log stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings.
Ford (NYSE:F) slumped over 13% after clocking disappointing earnings, as automobile sales slowed sharply amid decreased consumer spending.
Q2 GDP data due
Investors will also study the release of preliminary second-quarter GDP data before the market open, and is expected to show annualized growth of 2.0%.
This would be above the 1.4% growth seen in the first quarter, but would remain considerably slower than the 4.2% pace seen in the second half of last year.
This comes ahead of Friday's PCE price index - which is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge.
Crude slips on demand concerns
Crude prices retreated Thursday, as concerns about waning demand, especially from China, the world's largest crude importer, continued to weigh.
By 06:45 ET, the U.S. crude futures (WTI) dropped 1.7% to $76.30 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 1.6% to $80.40 a barrel.
Both benchmarks settled higher on Wednesday, snapping consecutive sessions of declines after the Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude inventories fell by 3.7 million barrels last week, more than expected.
However, prices remained close to two-month lows as concerns over waning demand, coupled with forecasts of a potential oil market surplus in 2025 and talk of a ceasefire in the Middle East kept traders largely bearish towards crude.
(Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)
This content was originally published on Investing.com
