Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., May 14, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
Stock futures fell Thursday after the S&P 500 strung together a third consecutive advance in reaction to the Trump administration and China hammering out a temporary suspension of their tit-for-tat tariff dispute.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 were down 0.4%, while Nasdaq-100 futures dropped 0.5%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 159 points, or 0.3%.
Shares of Walmart were marginally lower in the premarket after the company said it could raise prices in response to still-high tariffs from the Trump administration. Walmart reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue that matched Wall Street estimates.
Confidence in the immediate outlook for stocks has strengthened in the wake of last weekend’s talks between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese officials that appeared to stave off a short-term decline in economic activity and a ratcheting up in inflation. The enthusiasm mostly continued Wednesday, with the S&P 500 advancing 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite rising 0.7%. It was also the sixth straight winning day for the tech-heavy index. The 30-stock Dow slipped 0.2%.
Tech giants are putting up a strong showing week to date: Nvidia and Tesla are both up more than 16%, and Meta Platforms has added 11.3% in the period. Amazon and Alphabet are both up more than 8% each. The Nasdaq Composite is higher by 6.8% this week, trailed by the S&P 500, ahead 4.11%, and the Dow, up 1.9%.
Shares of Foot Locker surged more than 82% after the company announced that it would merge with Dick’s Sporting Goods for $2.4 billion. UnitedHealth slid 6% after the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar, that the Justice Department is probing the insurer. A UnitedHealth spokesman later told CNBC that the insurer has not been notified by the DOJ of the “supposed” investigation reported.
Sentiment was bolstered Tuesday by the latest reading on consumer inflation showing prices rising at a slower pace than Wall Street economists had expected. Inflation increased by 0.2% in April excluding food and energy, below the consensus estimate of 0.3%.
Traders also assessed the state of the economy on Thursday, with an unexpected decline in wholesale prices last month. The producer price index for April declined 0.5% month-over-month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Economists polled by Dow Jones forecast PPI would increase 0.3% on the month. Retail sales increased 0.1% in April, which matched consensus estimates, while industrial production numbers for April decreased slightly more than expected.
