Dow Futures Edge Lower As Investors Exercise Caution Amid Government Shutdown: OXY, BRK, FRMI, TSLA Among Stocks To Watch

While Dow Jones futures were down by 0.08% at the time of writing, the S&P 500 futures gained 0.28%.

U.S. stocks appear set for a cautious opening on Thursday, as investors remain watchful with the United States government shutdown entering its second day. This is the first U.S. government shutdown in almost seven years.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview on Thursday that the government shutdown could hit the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). “This isn’t the way to have a discussion, shutting down the government and lowering the GDP. We could see a hit to the GDP, a hit to growth, and a hit to working America,” Bessent said.

While Dow Jones futures were down by 0.08% at the time of writing, the S&P 500 futures gained 0.28%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100’s futures rose 0.57%. Futures of the Russell 2000 index were up by 0.5%.

Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was up 0.29% at the time of writing, while Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) rose 0.6% on Thursday morning. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘bullish’ territory.

Asian markets ended Thursday’s trading session on a positive note, with the KOSPI leading with gains of 2.63%, followed by the Hang Seng at 1.58%, the TWSE Capitalization Weighted Stock index at 1.5%, and the Nikkei 225 at 0.86%.

The Shanghai Composite was closed for trading on account of China’s National Day.

Stocks To Watch

• Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) (BRK.A): Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway announced that it has reached a deal to acquire OxyChem from Occidental Petroleum for $9.7 billion. Occidental shares were up over 1%, while Berkshire’s shares were down 0.32% in Thursday’s pre-market trade.
• Fermi Inc. (FRMI): Fermi’s shares were up more than 11% in Thursday’s pre-market trade, continuing to rise after a strong debut on Wednesday.
• Tesla Inc. (TSLA): Tesla reported deliveries of 497,099 vehicles in the third quarter (Q3) and production of 447,450 vehicles, setting a new record in both categories. It also deployed an all-time high of 12.5 Gigawatt Hour (GWh) of energy during the quarter. Shares of the EV giant were up nearly 2% pre-market.
• Castor Maritime Inc. (CTRM) and AMTD Digital Inc. (HKD) are among the companies scheduled to announce their latest quarterly results on Thursday.

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