Nasdaq, S&P 500 Futures Slide As Treasury Yields, Trump-Xi Summit Keep Traders On Edge: META, GOOGL, SPCX, VKTX, SNAP, MCD, BB Stocks In Focus

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits for SPY and QQQ has improved to ‘bullish’.

• Treasury yields remained elevated, reviving expectations for another Fed rate hike. 
• Investors turn their attention to President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington. 
• The U.S. and China have agreed to extend their trade truce by two months through January 10, 2027, giving both sides additional time to negotiate. 

U.S. stock futures were under pressure early Thursday as investors digested surging Treasury yields and hawkish Federal Reserve commentary and look forward to the high-stakes meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping later today.

As of 4:00 a.m. ET, Nasdaq futures were down 0.6%, S&P 500 futures were down 0.4%, and Dow and Russell 2000 futures were down 0.2%. 

However, on Stocktwits, retail sentiment for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500 Index, and Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index, has improved to ‘bullish’ from ‘neutral’ earlier in the week. 

Treasury Yields Put The Fed Back In The Driver’s Seat 

The 10-year Treasury yield surged past 5.1%, hitting a nearly two-decade high following unexpectedly strong U.S. PMI data. The economic heat prompted traders to price in nearly 70% odds of an October Fed rate hike after Fed Governor Michael Barr warned that risks to achieving target inflation have increased.

A whole host of Fed speeches will be in the spotlight today. New York Fed President John Williams speaks at 4:10 am ET, followed by Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack at 8:50 am and Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson at 10:10 am ET. 

Trump-Xi Meeting Takes Center Stage 

Meanwhile, diplomatic focus shifts to Washington today. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed an extension of the U.S.–China trade truce through early January as President Donald Trump prepares to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington alongside tech titan executives, including Tim Cook, Jensen Huang, Sam Altman and Elon Musk.  

The Tech Radar

Meta (META): Shares fell over 1% in early premarket trade after unveiling $1,299 VR glasses weighing just 100g, its "Muse Charm" pocket-sized AI device, and expanding retail integrations (Walmart, Best Buy, Sephora) for its Muse AI agent. Separately, Chief Product Officer Christopher Cox disclosed selling 40,000 shares worth $28.5 million.

Unity Software Inc. (U): Shares rose 5% in early premarket as Meta’s aggressive hardware and mixed-reality expansion at Meta Connect fueled expectations for increased developer utilization of Unity's engine across Meta VR devices.

Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL): Google’s parent company is in the spotlight after DeepMind leadership confirmed that its next-generation Gemini 4 AI flagship model is already in early post-training and set to launch much earlier than initially planned.

Snap Inc. (SNAP): Shares fell nearly 2% in early premarket as Meta’s cheaper smart glasses undercut competitors and sparked backlash surrounding Snap's SPECS strategy.

Cybersecurity stocks (CRWD, FTNT, S, NET, PANW) are on the retail radar following news that an OpenAI AI agent breached an Australian public health portal earlier this year.

Trending Stocks

SpaceX (SPCX) is garnering heavy retail discussion amid concerns over a 328-million-share IPO lockup release and news of a classified U.S. Space Force deal granting SpaceX access to Pentagon space-tracking data in exchange for Starlink orbital tracking data.

Viking Therapeutics (VKTX): Shares fell 8% in early premarket trade even as retail investors viewed its $200 million stock offering and $200 million debt raise as a move to strengthen its cash position for buyout or partnership negotiations.

Sellas Life Sciences (SLS): Shares were subdued in early premarket trade as retail investors awaited Phase 2 SLS009 clinical trial updates presented at the AACR Pancreatic Cancer Conference.

Grail Inc. (GRAL): Is on the retail radar after an FDA advisory panel voted in favor of recommending approval for its Galleri multi-cancer early detection blood test across safety, efficacy, and overall benefit-risk metrics.

Ondas Holdings (ONDS) has acquired defense tech firms Insignito Solutions, CaribouLabs, and Ottopia’s defense unit for $56 million to scale its defense drone operations.

Cathie Wood's ARK Investment bought 143.3K shares of Scribe Therapeutics (SCTX) on Wednesday.

McDonald's Corp. (MCD): Seeing mild rebound in early premarket trade after the company’s CFO warned that a slow start to Q3 would likely keep U.S. same-store sales slightly negative, despite unveiling new 2030 targets and $8.5B in franchisee AI and operational support.

Other tickers trending on Stocktwits at the time of writing included Palantir (PLTR), SoFi Technologies (SOFI), Netlist (NLST), and Klarna (KLAR).

What Else To Watch Thursday

On the economic front, investors will watch for the release of the jobless claims and new home sales data today.

On the earnings front, watch out for BlackBerry Ltd (BB), Kandi Technologies Group Inc (KNDI), Wimi Hologram Cloud Inc - Ordinary Shares - Class B (WIMI), Uxin Ltd - ADR (UXIN), and Darden Restaurants, Inc. (DRI), among others before the bell, while Costco Wholesale Corp (COST) reports after the bell.

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