Nasdaq, S&P 500 Futures Pull Back As Market Mood Remains Cautious: Traders Mull Election Results, AMD Earnings

Some semblance of sanity may return to the market after the tech-led tumble in Tuesday’s session, but caution remains the undercurrent.

• ADP is set to release its private payrolls report for October at 8:15 a.m. ET, with economists, on average, expecting a 22,000 job addition.
• McDonald’s earnings headline the earnings calendar of the day.
• AMD (AMD) stock pulled back by over 4% overnight, despite a stellar quarterly report, likely applying more pressure on AI trades.

U.S. stocks are heading for a lackluster session on Wednesday, with major index futures trading mixed after the tech-led market plunge the previous session. Given the magnitude of Tuesday’s sell-off, some degree of bargain hunting cannot be ruled out.

A key private payrolls report due ahead of the market open could shift the focus back to the economy. Traders may also mull the election results, which have largely been a setback for the Republican Party, and the Supreme Court’s hearing on President Donald Trump’s tariff lawsuit.

AMD (AMD) stock pulled back by over 4% overnight, despite a stellar quarterly report, likely applying more pressure on AI trades.

How Futures Are Trading

As of 3 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 futures fell 0.32% and 0.18%, respectively, while the Dow and  Russell 2000 futures edged up marginally. 

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500 Index, and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ETF, which tracks the Nasdaq 100 Index, remained ‘extremely bearish’ as of early Wednesday. The message volume on the streams remained at ‘high’ levels.

Commenting on the QQQ stream, a bearish watcher blamed the uncertainty for the market’s predicament. 

Another user attributed the market slump to the “overall downtrend in the economy.”

How Markets Fared Tuesday

Stocks closed Tuesday’s session sharply lower, led by the tech space, as investors grew jittery about the sustainability of the mega-cap-led market rally. Increasing worries about an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble burst also weighed on sentiment amid a lack of any major economic catalysts.

The SPY,  QQQ and the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) ETFs slumped 1.19%, 2.03%, and 1.73%respectively, while the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) fell 0.54%.

Key Catalysts To Watch Out For

ADP is set to release its private payrolls report for October at 8:15 a.m. ET, with economists on average expecting a 22,000 job addition, compared to a loss of 32,000 jobs in September. Given the government shutdown, now the longest in record, traders can use the data as a proxy to gauge the health of the overall market.

The S&P and the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) will release the results of their respective service sector surveys at 9:45 a.m. ET and 10 a.m. ET, respectively.

Noteworthy names featured on the earnings calendar for the day are Bunge, Humana, Cinemark, McDonald’s, Teva Pharma, Unity Software, AMC Entertainment, AppLovin, Arm Holdings, Bumble, DoorDash, Lyft, Figma, Fortinet, Hubspot, IonQ, MetLife, and Snap.

How Other Markets Fared

Crude oil futures extended their slide early Wednesday, while gold futures rebounded. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield slipped below the 4.1% level, and the U.S. dollar ticked down after ending above the 100 level for a second straight session.

Most major Asian markets pulled back, tracking the overnight sell-off on Wall Street.

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