Retail sentiment on Stocktwits remained ‘neutral’ on SPY and ‘bearish’ on QQQ.

  • Investors turned to PPI and jobless claims after July CPI did little to alter the Fed outlook.
  • AI trade is facing fresh scrutiny after another blockbuster earnings stretch and a new round of bearish bets. 
  • Space stocks continue to attract retail attention, with SpaceX, ASTS and Rocket Lab riding Goldman Sachs’ bullish long-term industry thesis. 

U.S. stock futures were subdued early Thursday as traders awaited more inflation and labor market data following July’s CPI report that helped ease some interest rate hike concerns. The tight-range setup follows another tech-led session on Wednesday. 

As of 4:00 a.m. ET, Nasdaq futures were flat with a negative bias; S&P 500 and Dow futures were flat with a positive bias, while Russell 2000 futures were up 0.1%.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500 Index, has remained ‘neutral’, and Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq-100 Index, has remained ‘bearish.’

AI Trade In The Spotlight

CoreWeave (CRWV) fell 2% in early premarket trade, after a stellar rally in the previous session following a strong Q2 print. The CFO added that older-generation Nvidia A100 units are fully leased through 2029.

Nebius Group (NBIS): Shares fell 4% in early premarket trade even after it raised its FY26 contracted capacity guidance to 5 GW. Management said it could sell its entire 2027 capacity at current terms but is holding some back for higher-value near-term demand. 

Cisco Systems (CSCO): Pulling back 6% premarket despite beating fiscal Q4 earnings and signaling that AI orders should be “meaningfully higher” in fiscal 2027. 

Cerebras Systems (CBRS): Shares cracked 16% in early premarket trade despite raising its full-year guidance, as traders digested a Q2 net loss and near-term valuation expansion.

Micron Technology (MU), SanDisk (SNDK) and SK Hynix (SKHY) are in focus amid the memory demand debate, even as South Korea’s KOSPI entered a bull market after last month’s selloff. Michael Burry is adding to the debate after reportedly shorting Nebius, Micron, Oracle and the semiconductor ETF SOXX, saying that the AI boom is approaching a downturn. 

Apple (AAPL) is opening a new manufacturing center in Houston Thursday as part of its previously announced $600 billion U.S. investment push. The company is also reportedly negotiating multiyear licensing agreements with publishers to supply news content for an AI-powered Siri.

Anthropic is reportedly in talks to acquire AI startup Decart for about $6 billion, potentially its largest acquisition yet as AI labs shift their focus to cheaper compute resources, rather than simply adding more chips.

Space Stocks Are Buzzing 

Space stocks continue to garner close retail attention. A report by the Goldman Sachs Global Institute named space as “a new pillar of the industrial economy.” 

SpaceX (SPCX): Shares held steady in early premarket trading, adding to nearly 40% over five days, getting a booster from Goldman’s space economy thesis and momentum ahead of its second tranche of lockup expiration on August 20.

AST SpaceMobile (ASTS): In focus after raising over $1 billion to explore vertical integration into launch operations, even as analysts caution over high valuation multiples and constellation deployment timelines.

Rocket Labs (RKLB) and Firefly Aerospace (FLY) are other space names on watch following the Goldman report. 

Trending Stocks

Ondas Holdings (ONDS): Stock breached the $10 mark for the first time in months on Wednesday ahead of its Q2 earnings report today. 

Fermi Inc. (FRMI): Retail bulls on Stocktwits welcome the appointment of infrastructure veteran Lee McIntire as CEO. This comes as its crucial Project Matador moves into the construction and power-delivery phase.

Wendy’s (WEN): Reports emerged that Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management is assembling a consortium to submit a take-private bid for the burger chain. Retail bulls are speculating a $12-$17 ‘buyout offer.’

Sellas Life Sciences (SLS): Stock was marginally higher in early premarket trading following regulatory filings which revealed new or increased positions from JPMorgan, Stifel and other investors ahead of Phase 3 AML clinical trial data later this year.

Netflix (NFLX): Bill Ackman is back in Netflix after taking a roughly $400 million loss on the stock in 2022. His renewed bet comes as he now believes the company has won the streaming wars and can compound earnings through revenue growth, margin expansion, and buybacks. 

Bumble (BMBL): Is in the spotlight after announcing a major product shift allowing men to send the first message.

Other tickers trending on Stocktwits at the time of writing included Strategy (MSTR), Poet Technology (POET), Coherent (COHR) and Infleqtion (INFQ).

What Else To Watch Thursday

On the economic front, investors will be watching for the release of jobless claims and the producer price index data at 8:30 am ET. Another soft inflation reading could reinforce the case for a patient Fed, while a hotter PPI print could revive inflation concerns and pressure the AI trade. 

On the earnings front, Intuitive Machines Inc - Ordinary Shares - Class A (LUNR), Lithium Americas Corp (NewCo) (LAC), Paysafe Limited (PSFE), Ondas Inc. (ONDS), and Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT), are among those reporting today.

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