S&P 500, Nasdaq Futures Waver As More Bank Earnings, Jobs Data And Iran Tensions Test Markets

Stocks sold off sharply on Wednesday, with tech and consumer discretionary leading losses, while energy and defensives outperformed as oil jumped.

• U.S. futures were mixed after the U.S. markets declined the most in the new year on Wednesday.
• Investors were repositioning amid bank results, with the last of the lot, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, set to report this morning.
• Updates on the escalating situation between the U.S. and Iran, and the U.S. jobless claims report later today, would be among the market drivers.

U.S. stock futures were mixed on Thursday as investors penciled in bank earnings and retail sales data amid geopolitical risk from signs of the U.S.’s potential involvement in the unrest in Iran.

As of 1:30 am ET on Thursday, the S&P 500 futures fell 0.6%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.8%. Dow futures were up 0.5%, while the Russell 2000 futures were up 0.7%.

Red Wednesday

The benchmark S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices saw broad sell-offs on Wednesday, posting their biggest declines so far this year. All three benchmark indices — the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow Jones — registered their first consecutive declines of the year. 

Consumer discretionary and technology stocks were broadly sold off on Wednesday, while defensive sectors such as Health Care and Consumer Staples outperformed. Energy once again led the market, with WTI crude oil climbing above $62 a barrel for the first time since late October. The move came amid escalating geopolitical tensions, as signs grew that a deeper U.S. military intervention involving Iran could be imminent.

Wells Fargo declined 4.6% after the company missed fourth-quarter profit expectations, and even though Citigroup and Bank of America reported higher profits, the financials sector still declined. Intuit and Airbnb were among the biggest losers for the day.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court refrained – for a second time – from issuing a decision on the legality of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The case is widely watched with significant repercussions for businesses either way it is decided. 

U.S. retail sales rose above expectations in November, according to official data released on Wednesday, following weaker-than-expected December core inflation figures released on Tuesday.

On Thursday, the Stocktwits sentiment for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 Index, shifted to ‘bullish’ from ‘bearish’ a day ago, while the sentiment for the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ETF, which tracks the Nasdaq 100 stock, slid a few points lower in the ‘bullish’ zone.

Trending Stocks To Watch

Stocks of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley – the last of the major U.S. banks to report in this quarter – are in focus ahead of their premarket earnings reports on Thursday. Wall Street expects Goldman Sachs' revenue to decline marginally to $13.8 billion and net income to rise nearly 2% to $3.7 billion. Analysts expect Morgan Stanley’s revenue to grow 9% to $17.8 billion and net profit by 8% to $3.8 billion.

Investors will pay close attention to any commentary on Trump’s proposed cap on credit card interest charged to consumers, which is set to go into effect next week.

BlackRock: The investment advisor is also set to report Q4 numbers ahead of the bell.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co: The world’s biggest contract chip maker beat revenue and profit estimates, per results released early Thursday, signaling robust growth in AI chips and the AI end-market as a whole.

Verizon: The telecom services provider suffered a massive outage on Wednesday, disrupting phone service for thousands of users for several hours. Verizon updated this morning that the issues were fully resolved.

Other tickers trending on Stocktwits at the time of writing were Meta Platforms, Coinbase, and Robinhood.

Other Catalysts To Watch 

Investors will be closely watching a busy stream of federal data on Thursday. 

The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index and the initial jobless claims report will both be released at 10:30 am ET.

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