U.S. stock futures were mixed on Thursday, as the Dow Jones index slipped, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indices rose, following Wednesday’s lower close.
On the economic front, initial jobless claims fell by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 203,000 for the week ending Aug. 22, pointing to continued labor market resilience. Meanwhile, Census Bureau data showed July’s advance U.S. goods trade deficit widened 17.2% to $118.8 billion as exports fell and imports surged, while advance wholesale inventories rose 1.3% to $959.1 billion and retail inventories increased 0.7% to $838.5 billion.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani is traveling to Tehran on Thursday to spearhead mediation efforts aimed at reviving negotiations. While the pause in fighting has held for nearly a month, no diplomatic breakthrough has been reached; the U.S. reimposed a naval blockade against Iranian ports last month and enacted fresh economic sanctions following alleged violations in the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.66%, and the two-year bond was at 4.22%. The CME Group’s FedWatch tool projections show markets pricing a 36.1% likelihood of the Federal Reserve hiking the current interest rates during its September meeting.
| Index | Performance (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | -0.07% |
| S&P 500 | 0.39% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 0.97% |
| Russell 2000 | -0.14% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, were higher in premarket on Thursday. The SPY was up 0.30% at $768.41 , while the QQQ advanced by 0.90% to $717.75.
Stocks In Focus
Nvidia
- Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) jumped 7.32% higher in premarket on Thursday after reporting better-than-expected second-quarter results and issuing a strong revenue forecast for the third quarter.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that NVDA maintains a strong price trend in the short and medium terms and a weak trend in the long term, with a solid growth score.
Salesforce
- Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM) gained 11.25% after beating top and bottom lines and posting its strongest net new Annual Order Value (AOV) growth in four years, while attrition remained near record lows.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that CRM maintains a strong price trend in the short and medium terms and a weak trend in the long term, with a poor growth score.
CrowdStrike Holdings
- CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) advanced by 8.36% after its second-quarter revenue of $1.47 billion beat analyst estimates of $1.44 billion, and adjusted earnings of 31 cents per share beat estimates of 29 cents per share.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that CRWD maintains a weak price trend in the short term but a strong trend in the long and medium terms, with a poor value score.
HP
- HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ) dropped 8.81% despite posting upbeat results for the third quarter and raising its FY2026 earnings forecast.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that HPQ maintains a strong price trend in the long, short, and medium terms, with a moderate value score.
Ulta Beauty
- Ulta Beauty Inc. (NASDAQ:ULTA) was 0.16% higher as Wall Street expects it to post quarterly earnings of $6.18 per share on revenue of $2.95 billion after the closing bell.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that ULTA maintains a strong price trend in the short and medium terms with a weak trend in the long term, with a solid quality score.
Cues From Last Session
Health care, communication services, and consumer discretionary stocks recorded the biggest losses on Wednesday as most S&P 500 sectors closed lower, though industrials and utilities bucked the market trend to finish higher.
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Dow Jones | -0.21% | 53,463.88 |
| S&P 500 | -0.021% | 7,675.70 |
| Nasdaq Composite | -0.081% | 26,130.20 |
| Russell 2000 | -0.14% | 3,005.90 |
Insights From Analysts
BlackRock foresees an unconventional landscape for the U.S. stock market and broader economy, driven by structural shifts rather than a typical business cycle. Despite rising long-term government bond yields, corporate profit forecasts continue to climb.
The BlackRock Investment Institute notes that these dual signals reflect a “structurally higher cost of capital” that calls for a fresh approach to portfolio design.
Rather than anticipating a classic downturn, BlackRock remains overweight on U.S. equities. They project U.S. corporate earnings to expand by 11.6% annually over the next five years—a growth trajectory matched in “only about 15% of historical five-year periods.”
This optimistic outlook relies heavily on technological adoption. As BlackRock highlights, this projection is “conditional on AI adoption boosting productivity and profit margins.”
Economically, intense capital competition among governments and tech hyperscalers is keeping upward pressure on long-term yields. BlackRock emphasizes that “long-standing macro anchors investors have come to rely upon, such as stable inflation expectations, become less reliable,” requiring investors to focus on underlying risk drivers over simple asset labels.
Upcoming Economic Data
Here’s what investors will be keeping an eye on Thursday.
- Initial Jobless Claims: Decreased by 4,000 to 203,000 for the week ending Aug. 22; the 4-week moving average rose slightly by 1,250 to 205,500.
- Goods Trade Deficit: Widened 17.2% month-over-month to $118.8 billion in July, driven by a 2.9% drop in exports ($199.4 billion) and a 3.7% jump in imports ($318.2 billion).
- Wholesale Inventories: Increased 1.3% month-over-month to $959.1 billion in July, up 5.7% from July 2025.
- Retail Inventories: Rose 0.7% month-over-month to $838.5 billion in July, marking a 3.8% increase year-over-year.
- August’s Kansas City Fed survey data will be released by 11:00 a.m. ET.
Commodities, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets
Crude Oil WTI futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 0.73% to hover around $81.63 per barrel.
Gold Spot US Dollar fell 0.11% to hover around $4,599.73 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.01% higher at the 99.1680 level.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 1.30% higher at $79,836.71 per coin over the last 24 hours.
Asian markets were mixed on Thursday, as South Korea’s Kospi and China’s CSI 300 indices rose. Australia’s ASX 200, India’s Nifty 50, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 indices fell. European markets were mostly lower in early trading.
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