U.S. equity futures edged lower on Thursday, pausing for direction as investors weighed the Federal Reserve’s latest signals, market reaction to the highly anticipated meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and a mixed set of earnings from major technology companies.
As of 04:56 P.M. (GMT+7), Dow Jones futures slipped by 137.00 points, or 0.29%, to 47,495.70 points, while S&P 500 futures ticked down by 12.40 points, or 0.18%, to 6,878.30 points. Nasdaq 100 futures also fell slightly by 54.80 points, or 0.21%, to 26,065.10 points.
Market sentiment cooled following remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who emphasized that a potential interest rate cut in December was far from guaranteed despite the central bank’s decision to lower its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point on Wednesday. His comments underscored divisions within the Fed and left investors uncertain about the policy trajectory heading into year-end.
Meanwhile, relief from U.S.-China talks was limited. The Trump-Xi summit yielded only modest trade concessions, with Washington agreeing to a minor reduction in tariffs on Chinese imports in exchange for China resuming soybean purchases and putting a temporary hold on rare earth export restrictions.
Attention also turned to results from tech heavyweights set to report after the close, including Apple and Amazon, as investors continued to assess guidance from recent “Magnificent Seven” earnings.
In premarket trading, Alphabet surged over 7% to USD 294.50 per share after delivering better-than-expected results, while Meta dropped nearly 8% to USD 692.81 and Microsoft declined about 3% to USD 525.46 as the street scrutinized their forward-looking commentary.
